The proposed $5.5-billion Interborough Express light rail line has been upgraded to a high-capacity light metro project. Running under All Faiths Cemetery significantly enhanced the line's efficiency, reducing travel time from 42 to 32 minutes and increasing estimated daily ridership from 121,000 to 160,000 passengers. MTA officials aim to convey the project's potential as more than traditional light rail, which typically involves smaller vehicles and lower speeds. Overall, the IBX represents a strategic improvement in urban transit.
The IBX will now run 32 minutes end-to-end from Sunset Park to Jackson Heights instead of 42, with 160,000 daily passengers instead of 121,000.
MTA officials calling the IBX 'a light metro project' rather than simply 'light rail' represents a significant semantic shift.
'The key thing with the light metro is that it's gonna be high speed and it's gonna have a lot of capacity,' IBX Project Executive Charles Gantz told me.
Initial IBX project renderings pointed in this direction, with images of smaller vehicles akin to those seen in Europe and some North American cities.
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