MTA Unveils Renderings for $5.5 Billion Interborough Express Light Rail by Jacobs and HDR
Governor Kathy Hochul, alongside MTA CEO Janno Leiber, presented new designs for the Interborough Express (IBX), a $5.5 billion light rail project spanning 14 miles from the Brooklyn Army Terminal to Roosevelt Avenue. This initiative will feature 18 stations along freight routes, crafted by Jacobs and HDR, ensuring full accessibility and enhancements at four subway stations prior to its launch. The MTA projects that the IBX will serve 160,000 riders daily, offering a 32-minute journey that links 17 subway lines. Proposed as a circumferential connector for thirty years, construction is expected to take a minimum of five years, with half of the necessary funding already in place. Hochul seeks federal assistance if Democrats win back Congress; otherwise, the state will fill the funding void.
Key facts
- Governor Kathy Hochul and MTA CEO Janno Leiber released new renderings and design updates for the Interborough Express (IBX).
- The IBX is a 14-mile light rail line planned along freight tracks between the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Bay Ridge and Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights.
- Jacobs and HDR are the architects for the project.
- The development is expected to cost $5.5 billion and includes 18 stations along the CSX and Long Island Rail Road freight corridors.
- Renderings show stations at New Utrecht Avenue and Remsen Avenue with wide platforms, banks of elevators, and glazed canopies over boarding areas.
- The MTA projects 160,000 daily riders and a 32-minute end-to-end trip, connecting 17 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road.
- It would be the first new end-to-end rapid transit line built entirely within the city since the IND crosstown line (now the G train) opened in 1937, and the first new stations in Queens since the Archer Avenue extension in 1988.
- The project is only half funded by the $2.75 billion in the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan; Hochul hopes for federal money if Democrats retake Congress but pledged the state will cover the gap if needed.
Entities
Artists
- Kathy Hochul
- Janno Leiber
- Katus Watson
Institutions
- MTA
- Jacobs
- HDR
- CSX
- Long Island Rail Road
- Regional Plan Association
Locations
- Brooklyn Army Terminal
- Bay Ridge
- Roosevelt Avenue
- Jackson Heights
- New Utrecht Avenue
- Remsen Avenue
- Brooklyn
- Queens
- Manhattan
- East Flatbush
- Flatlands
- Maspeth
- Middle Village
- Bronx
- New York
- United States