Transit agency wants to add Metro-North stops in the Bronx

Plan would boost real estate values in under-served neighborhoods, proponents say

From left: Ruben Diaz Jr. and Metro-North New Haven line
From left: Ruben Diaz Jr. and Metro-North New Haven line

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will formally propose a long-discussed plan to extend the Metro North New Haven Line to a section of the Bronx with little access to public transportation.

On Wednesday, the transportation authority will unveil plans to build stations in Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park and Co-op City along the New Haven line, according to documents posted to the MTA website ahead of a meeting on its five-year capital plan and cited by the Wall Street Journal. The project also calls for the commuter line to be extended beyond Grand Central Terminal to Penn Station.

Governor Andrew Cuomo supports the plan as a means of improving access for 57,000 residents in Co-op City. At least one Bronx leader told the Journal that the project could significantly impact the borough’s real estate market.

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“The expansion of Metro North service to the East Bronx has the potential to transform not just the Bronx, but the entire region,” Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. told the newspaper. “The end result is an improved quality of life for the Bronx, along with increasing real estate values.”

One possible barrier is price. The agency’s proposed $32 billion capital plan for the next five years — which will be discussed by the MTA’s board on Wednesday — has a funding gap of $15.2 billion. [WSJ]Tom DiChristopher