(Newday posted the following article by Joshua Robin on its website on December 17.)
NEW YORK — Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday proposed building a direct rail link from lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport, using part of the $20 billion in aid the federal government gave the city after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The project, which would cost up to $4 billion, would not require dipping into city or state coffers, Schumer said in a telephone interview after announcing the proposal at a business group breakfast.
“The real problem with downtown … [is] it has a very weak transit system,” Schumer said in an interview.
With the new system, he said: “I see business people going out to Kennedy. I see residents going out to Kennedy. And lots of Long Island people going into the city.”
The announcement came as Port Authority officials prepared for today’s opening of the AirTrain rail link to Kennedy Airport. The train connects the airport with the Jamaica and Howard Beach subways, requiring Manhattan passengers to transfer. Schumer’s plan would link AirTrain to a new line directly from lower Manhattan.
Schumer’s announcement caught off-guard the office of Gov. George Pataki. It shares control of the Port Authority with New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey.
One official said that while the Pataki administration had expressed interest in a lower Manhattan-Kennedy route, the governor also was interested in other transportation projects, such as the redevelopment of West Street.
Nonetheless, a Pataki spokeswoman, Mollie Fullington, said: “We’re pleased the senator is joining the governor in support of direct airport and Long Island access from lower Manhattan.”
Schumer said he favors a route starting at the new federally funded Fulton Street transit facility and then through a tunnel under the East River, which would be the most costly element of the plan.
The tunnel would end at the Atlantic Avenue Long Island Rail Road terminal in Brooklyn, and then the train would continue on the railroad tracks until Jamaica Station, where it would merge with the AirTrain route.
Schumer said of the $20 billion promised after Sept. 11, $1.7 billion is available for transportation funds and $1.2 billion for economic development. He said additional money could be found in money garnered through unused tax breaks.
Asked why the federal government would fund a regional project, Schumer said: “It’s not new money. Everyone agrees we’re supposed to get $20 billion, and thus far there’s been a great deal of flexibility.”
But John Feehery, a spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said the project “does look like it is not part of the intent of what the 9/11 money was all about.”
The current AirTrain cost $1.9 billion and was funded by a departure surcharge on airplane travelers and Port Authority funds. AirTrain opens to passenger at 2 p.m. and will be free until midnight Thursday.