QueensRail Corporation

Queens is a divided borough. Traveling between North and South Queens is extremely difficult with no rail connection linking the two–not even a bike path! Residents in the south face some of the longest commutes in the city, those in the north have no easy access to the businesses and beaches in the south. Those who rely on public transportation often depend on slow, meandering buses to travel within their own borough. Most choose to drive if they can.

That's where QueensLink comes in! By using the abandoned Rockaway Beach Branch rail line, we can create the borough’s FIRST north-south subway line with four new stations and 33 acres of new parks and bike paths along the way! This connection would bring TRANSIT EQUITY to Queens communities, increasing access to jobs, education and health care.

We recently received a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation that will allow us to study the social, environmental, economic, and equitable impacts of the QueensLink vision. HOWEVER, there’s one big catch: we MUST provide matching funds for the grant, which total to $100k (if you’re curious how it works, more details below).

This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and we don’t want it to go to waste. Queens DESERVES transit equity, especially in neighborhoods in the Rockways which were devastated by urban renewal projects in the mid-20th Century, and face the brunt of climate change in the 21st Century.

Please consider making a donation to QueensLink so that we can continue the fight for all New Yorkers! Your donation will be matched 4X by the USDOT grant. Every bit counts, and from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!!

Check out our website for more info: www.QueensLink.org

If you’re curious about how the matching funding works, here’s how. The funding that USDOT awarded us is from the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, and those grants are subject to an 80-20 funding match. This means the federal government provides 80% of the project’s funds, while the remaining 20% have to come from a non-federal source. In our case, we applied for a $500k grant in total, so the federal government will award us $400k, while we must provide the remaining $100k.