New Station Designs Released for the $5.5 Billion IBX Light Rail Project in New York, USA
en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 9, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) released the latest station design plans for the Interborough Express (IBX) and announced that the project's environmental review is ahead of schedule. The IBX is planned with an investment of approximately $5.5 billion, a total length of about 14 miles, connecting the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Brooklyn with Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, and is planned to have 18 stations. The project is currently in the design and engineering phase, and the draft environmental impact report is scheduled to be released in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The IBX will use the existing freight rail corridors of the Long Island Rail Road Bay Ridge Branch and the CSX Fremont Secondary to build a light rail system, with most of the route operating on dedicated right-of-way. The planned end-to-end travel time is approximately 32 minutes, and along the route it will connect with 17 New York City subway lines, 51 bus routes, and the Long Island Rail Road, covering approximately 900,000 residents in the surrounding area. The MTA currently estimates that the line will carry approximately 160,000 passengers per day after entering service.
The plan announced this time further clarifies the design of stations and passenger facilities. All 18 IBX stations will be built to accessibility standards, with platforms designed for level boarding, and will be equipped with elevators, wide fare gates, tactile paving, waiting facilities, and digital and audio information systems. The MTA will also simultaneously renovate four existing subway transfer stations at Broadway Junction, Junius Street/Livonia Avenue, Avenue I, and Wilson Avenue, so that all transfer nodes along the IBX will have accessible conditions.
The route design is also being further adjusted. The MTA has moved the Atlantic Avenue station north into the East New York Tunnel to improve transfer conditions with the A and C lines at the Broadway Junction subway station; the Metropolitan Avenue section was originally planned to operate at grade, and a tunnel within the existing freight rail corridor is currently being studied to allow the line to pass beneath Metropolitan Avenue and All Faiths Cemetery.
The MTA's 2025–2029 Capital Plan has allocated $2.75 billion for the IBX, accounting for about half of the project's current estimated investment of $5.5 billion, to complete the environmental review, design, preliminary engineering, and start construction. The project design work is planned to continue until 2027, and after the draft environmental impact report is released, public review and comment collection will also be carried out.
The IBX adopts a light rail technical solution. After comparing light rail, conventional rail, and bus rapid transit, the MTA previously determined the light rail option. The project design includes tracks, bridges, retaining walls, stations, and supporting infrastructure and systems, and construction methods for different sections are being studied simultaneously.
