WOODSIDE — Residents are pushing to add at least one Metro-North station in Queens as part of expanded access to Penn Station, saying the borough carries the burden, but none of the benefits, of the plan to add more train service.
Ali Fadil, 20, created a similar petition in 2012 but says his latest push addresses infrastructure issues along the Amtrak tracks and cites specific locations for possible stations.
Among the suggestions for Metro-North stations in Queens are Broadway and Northern Boulevard in Woodside and on Astoria Boulevard between 41st and 44th streets in Astoria. Both are next to existing tracks.
"If they're bringing more trains here...then we have to make sure that the best interest of Queens is being protected here," he said.
The petition also asks the MTA to repair tracks in Astoria and Woodside, which Fadil said are crumbling.
"The burden of additional trains that Metro-North wants to put on Western Queens will only help to accelerate structural issues that exist with the Amtrak right of way in Western Queens," he wrote in the petition.
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