MTA Chairman: No. 7 Subway Extension to NJ 'Not Going to Happen in Our Lifetime'

[mark1447]

MTA chairman Joe Lhota said a proposed extension of the No. 7 train subway line from Manhattan to New Jersey is "not going to happen in our lifetime. It's not going to happen in anybody's lifetime."

 

Lhota was speaking at a breakfast meeting of the New York Building Congress at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

 

He was asked about a trans-Hudson rail connection and what might fill the gap of the ARC Tunnel, a project killed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in late 2010.

 

Lhota said he favors Amtrak's proposed Gateway Tunnel project, which would bring Northeast Corridor trains from New Jersey through a tunnel under the river to an expanded Penn Station.

 

"I think it's really important to support that," he said.

 

The impetus for a No. 7 train extension comes from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who proposed the project last year.

 

"I've told the mayor this, I can't see that happening in our lifetime," Lhota said.

 

He added that he understood the project's appeal to some riders.

 

"Of course, New Jersey would like to have it because they think they can get across the Hudson for $2.25."

 

But then he reiterated his assessment of a subway to Secaucus: "Not a chance."

 

 

Source:

 

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2012/apr/03/mta-chairman-no-7-subway-extension-nj-not-going-happen-our-lifetime/

 

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[LTA1992]

I like this guy. He has brains.

[Grand Concourse]

Exactly, why extend the 7 when extending the PATH (owned by both states) would do basically something similar. There are other parts of the City like in Queens and Brooklyn that can use an extension of an existing line over the 7 to Jersey.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

The needs to be extended farther into Queens, maybe up to Francis Lewis Boulevard below Northern Boulevard. May satisfy people from those areas taking train and bus to go to work.

[Roadcruiser1]

To say this. Even if it was built it won't have been finished in our life times and would end up probably not happening so Lhota is correct.

[Brighton Express]

The still has a good 70 years on the 34th St. Extension, I totally am in agreement.

[R10 2952]

For once, I agree with the chairman of the . At least he's being realistic and trashing that BS Bloomberg proposal aka "7 to Secaucus".

[GreatOne2k]

Free transfers to/from PATH would be better than a (7)/<7> to NJ. The Paypass trial apparently did have free transfers to PATH (from what I heard), maybe they can do that again when Smart Card comes to all buses and subway stations.

[DanTheTransitMan]

[Nova RTS 9147]

Its surprising people took that idea seriously to begin with.....

[Roadcruiser1]

After reading some NJ newspapers I can see a lot of people in New Jersey are mad about the cancelling of this project.

[LTA1992]

How can you cancel something that never begun?

[Grand Concourse]

Exactly, but I can see why potential NJ riders would be upset over it. It's because this would likely be all on the MTA and NJ would only need to be in charge of the stations. It favors them more than it does for NYC.

[Guest Lance]

Precisely. Now, I could understand if Jersey was putting some money forward for such a project, but from what I've gathered, New York would've footed most, if not all of the bill if the feds didn't get involved while Jersey would benefit from another cheap way to get into New York. I'm not against the idea of having the subway system extend past the city's borders, but I feel that if other parties are going to benefit from these extensions, they should foot their share of the bill.