Schumer Announces $215 Million for East Side Access and $178 Million in Funding for 2nd Avenue Subway

Press Release

United States Senator Charles E. Schumer announced today that $215 million for East Side Access and $178 million for the 2nd Avenue Subway have been released by the federal Department of Transportation. The dollars are part of a full funding grant agreement the Metropolitan Transportation Authority entered with the Federal Transit Administration.

"In addition to the thousands of jobs these two projects have created in New York, upon completion, they will move millions of people to and from work more efficiently, and will pump millions of dollars in economic activity into our local economy," said Schumer. "This funding announcement signs, seals, and delivers on our promise to maintain funding for these projects."

The East Side Access Project, a joint federal-state effort, is a rail link from the LIRR, via the 63rd Street Tunnel, to Grand Central Terminal that will help tens of thousands of Nassau, Suffolk commuters save up to 30-40 minutes on their daily commutes. The project will also free up much needed capacity at Penn Station, alleviating what have become almost routine train delays.

The Second Avenue Subway project is intended to ease congestion on the Lexington Avenue line, the most crowded subway line in the nation, by constructing a two-track line connecting 125th Street to the Financial District in Manhattan as well as a connection from Second Avenue through the 63rd Street tunnel to existing tracks in West Midtown and Brooklyn.

Schumer has also been working to secure an additional $2.2 billion in unused railroad funds, through the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing program (RRIF), forfeited by New Jersey's rejection of the Access to the Region's Core (ARC) tunnel project to cover any remaining costs of the East Side Access project.

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