The Interborough Express (IBX) — the proposed light rail line that would let riders travel between Brooklyn and Queens without detouring through Manhattan — is deep into a two-year design phase in 2026, even as the MTA prepares for the possibility of building it without reliable federal money.

The roughly 14-mile line would run along an existing freight right-of-way, the Bay Ridge Branch, connecting Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Jackson Heights, Queens and crossing as many as 17 subway lines plus the Long Island Rail Road. Governor Kathy Hochul has championed it as the first new light rail in New York City and a fix for one of the transit network’s oldest gaps.

In the design phase

The MTA Board authorized a joint venture of Jacobs and HDR to lead the design and engineering phase, which is expected to run from 2025 to roughly 2027. The next public milestone is the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which the MTA says will be available for comment in fall 2026, with additional input opportunities in early 2027 once a draft preliminary design is released.

Recent design work has reshaped the route. The MTA shifted the planned Atlantic Avenue station north, into the East New York tunnel, to make a cleaner transfer to the A and C trains at Broadway Junction. It also trimmed the line from 19 to 18 stations, dropping a proposed Sutter Avenue stop. The MTA estimates the IBX would carry well over 100,000 daily riders and open in the early 2030s.

The funding question

The proposed cost is about $5.5 billion, and the MTA’s 2025–2029 capital plan sets aside $2.75 billion for it — roughly half. The rest had been expected to lean on federal transit grants, the route most large U.S. transit projects take.

In 2026, with the Trump administration’s Transportation Department signaling hostility toward New York transit funding — the same posture that produced its failed attempt to kill congestion pricing — the MTA began openly planning to advance the IBX without federal dollars if necessary, exploring state and authority financing to keep the project on schedule. That would make the IBX an unusual case of a multibillion-dollar U.S. transit line built largely without Washington.

Why it matters

Brooklyn and Queens are home to more than 4.5 million people, but transit between them is famously indirect: many trips require riding into Manhattan and back out. The IBX is the MTA’s signature attempt to fix that, and its progress through design is a real test of whether New York can deliver a major expansion on a tight schedule — and, increasingly, on its own dime.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Interborough Express?
A proposed 14-mile light rail line connecting Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Jackson Heights, Queens along an existing freight right-of-way, linking neighborhoods that currently require a trip through Manhattan to connect by transit.
When would the IBX open?
The MTA estimates the line would be operational in the early 2030s. As of 2026 it is in a roughly two-year design and engineering phase running 2025 to 2027.
How much does it cost and who pays?
The proposed cost is about $5.5 billion. The MTA's 2025–2029 capital plan sets aside $2.75 billion for the project; the MTA is exploring alternatives to federal funding for the balance.
How many stations will it have?
The MTA's current planning reduced the line from 19 to 18 stations after dropping the proposed Sutter Avenue stop and shifting the Atlantic Avenue station north to ease a transfer to the A and C trains at Broadway Junction.