Reactions to Interborough Express Light Rail

By John Pegram

This past week, the Interborough Express (IBX) proposal was in the news. For the first time, I believe, a general audience publication went beyond publishing press releases about the IBX proposal. And a leading YouTube transit channel posted its host’s opinion on the MTA’s IBX proposal, summarized by the title, “Why Light Rail isn’t the Solution for New York.”

An article by transportation reporter Ben Brachfeld was published by AMNY (a widely-distributed, free, print and digital publication), “The Queens graveyard that could put Hochul’s Interborough Express six feet under.” As the title suggests, the article is focused on negative reactions to the MTA’s proposed street-running of light rail to avoid enlarging the tunnel under All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens.

Included in Ben’s article was the revelation that the MTA had not contacted All Faiths about possibly expanding the tunnel or the transit project generally. The cemetery’s superintendent was quoted as saying that putting the tracks on the street “would be total chaos.” “Going through the already underground tunnel, that’s already there, if it doesn’t cause catastrophic displacement inside the cemetery, would probably be better than putting the tracks on the street.”

RMTransit is a YouTube channel with 279 thousand subscribers. Its creator and host, Reece Martin, has posted a video about the IBX proposal, “Why Light Rail isn’t the Solution for New York.”

The following image on the RMTransit homepage well-summarizes the host’s opinion:

The video credits BQ Rail as a source and displays the article, “There Should Be a Broadway Junction Station on the Interborough Express.” The host’s reaction to the MTA’s expensive idea for a Broadway Junction IBX station is below:

“Indeed, people seriously proposed digging an entirely new tunnel under an existing tunnel so two pipelines didn’t have to be moved. (Sigh).”

Ben’s article and Reece’s video are worth seeing. The comments with that video are likely to be interesting.

I am collecting comments on the IBX proposal and will post another article summarizing the opinions they express, probably in March 2024.