NEW YORK — Could New York’s subway be going suburban? A proposal to extend the No. 7 line across the Hudson River has straphangers atwitter, with some wondering how the new connection might change the character of the city’s beloved trains.
“The idea of it going to New Jersey — oh, my God,” said Lorraine Diehl, a dyed-in-the- wool New Yorker and author of a book about the subway. “Eek! You’ll come back with germs.”
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed last week that the city is studying whether to extend its No. 7 line from the far west side of Manhattan and under the Hudson to Secaucus, N.J. It would be the subway’s only stop outside New York City limits.
Bloomberg called the $5.3 billion plan “very clever.” Die- hard New Yorkers were incredulous.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Linda Baran, president of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce. She called the plan a slap in the face to the only subway-free borough, where people have been begging Bloomberg for better public transit for years.
A fierce online debate
The proposal set off fierce debates on online transit forums like and , with many New York posters calling the idea a waste of money.
The Straphangers Campaign wants the city to ensure it can meet its other obligations, like finishing an unfinanced subway line along New York’s Second Avenue, said Gene Russianoff, the association’s staff attorney.
Bloomberg said extending the No. 7 could be an elegant replacement for another tunnel project that fizzled last month when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie balked at the $9 billion to $14 billion price tag.
Christie said taxpayers couldn’t afford to bear the cost for years of the nation’s most costly public works project, which would have doubled the commuting capacity for New Jersey residents taking Amtrak or NJ Transit trains to work.
No. 7 a storied route
Construction of a multibillion-dollar, 1.5-mile extension that would take the No. 7 from Times Square to the Hudson river bank is already underway. The proposed tunnel under the Hudson would cost $5.3 billion. An extension of the line to the Secaucus Junction station would let passengers switch to New Jersey commuter train lines.
The proposal is preliminary, and officials haven’t firmed up who would pay for what.
The proposed crossing would add a whole new dimension to the No. 7 line, said Jeff Liao, a Taiwanese photographer who spent three years documenting that train for a book.
The No. 7 — the purple line on subway maps — begins in the immigrant neighborhoods of Queens and ends in Times Square. The journey is a metaphor for the American experience itself, Liao said.
“We’re all immigrants, and every day we’re riding the train to Times Square, chasing the American dream,” he said.
