Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Interborough Express Advancing from Planning to Active Phase

Earlier today, Governor Hochul announced that the engineering and design phase of the Interborough Express (IBX) has commenced, the next step in the development of the transformative transit project. On Wednesday, the MTA Board authorized the selection of a joint venture between Jacobs and HDR as the team that will oversee the design and engineering phase of the IBX. This represents major progress for the project, which will connect historically underserved communities in Brooklyn and Queens to the subway, bus and Long Island Rail Road, while significantly reducing travel times between Brooklyn and Queens, with an end-to-end run time of 32 minutes along the 14-mile line. In April, Governor Hochul approved $2.75 billion in funding for the project as part of the historic 2025-2029 MTA Capital Plan.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS of the Governor riding the subway with Janno Lieber and greeting passengers is available here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 What a spectacular day it is today. I want to first of all, thank all the elected officials who are acknowledged for joining us, including our Borough President Donovan Richards, and many of my partners in state and local government. I also want to recognize the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the MTA Janno Lieber. Let's give him round applause for everything he's done. Let's just get this rolling.

I'm so excited about this project. It is something that people often dream big, but the execution becomes impossible. People give up on their dreams, or they take a plan and put it on a shelf. It gets dusty over years, and it feeds the cynicism that government can't get things done anymore. Well, we're here to say that era is over. We're turning these old tracks into something remarkable. A clean, fast, 14-mile light rail line – a connection between Brooklyn and Queens like never before. We're calling it the Interborough Express. IBX.

Like I said, it's been talked about for more than 30 years. Most of you were not even alive then. But it's also not just about creating the track, the stations, all the work that's going to be involved, like lifting up about 48 bridges — which is quite extraordinary in itself. It's about creating connections between communities. This is about bringing people together, that the outer boroughs are now joined, that there's not a requirement that if you want to go see your mother in Queens from Brooklyn, that you have to go Manhattan first.

Now Manhattan is a lovely place, but why did people envision a world where you had to go there first to be able to come out to another borough? That will not be the future. IBX will deliver for 900,000, nearly a million people, who live in this corridor and hundreds of thousands who work nearby. They'll be able to make those connections seamlessly, be able to get one one part of Brooklyn to Queens much faster than ever would before.

We're talking about shaving off a lot of time. In fact, when we first unveiled this we've already found ways to save another 10 minutes or so. Let's make it 12. See, that's what I do to people. Everybody's really proud of what they do, and I'm like, we can do a little bit better, a little bit faster, a little bit smarter, but the IBX will change everything with connecting 17 subway lines — 17 subway lines, 50 bus routes, and the Long Island Railroad. All one seamless connection.

It'll open up a whole new world of opportunity without adding traffic on our clogged roads. Like I said, it'll serve about 160,000 riders a day and get this — a ride from end-to-end will take 32 minutes, 10 minutes less than the initial estimate. 32 minutes. Riders will save 30 minutes each way.

If you're a round trip commuter, guess what? That's an hour. An hour back in your life to be able to see your kids a little bit longer at the end of a workday, to be able to maybe go for a run in the morning. Little exercise. We all need it. Pack school lunches.

So, I'm so proud of this because it's all about lifting up people's quality of life. That is what I'm dedicated to. Keep people safe, but making them have a phenomenal life here in the great state of New York. This is one step forward. So today, here's the next big step. Officially kicking off the project design phase, thanks to a $166 million state investment. That means a lot of planning is going to occur. Looking at the stations, tracks, vehicles, signals so we can get shovels in the ground and make this become a reality.

Now, I got something for all the naysayers. Know this about me. When I say I want something done, it happens. So the era of waiting, dreaming, speculating, wondering why not — I say it's going to happen. We brought many, many other projects to life or completed projects in the making. The third rail — the third track on the Long Island Railroad was initiated before, but we got it done on time and under budget. Long Islanders have a one seat ride to the side with Grand Central Madison. We open that together.

One thing I'm really proud of, when you talk about infrastructure, and I love infrastructure – the Gateway Tunnel, how many presidents and governors of New Jersey and New York and mayors did we go through before we finally got it launched? It's happening, my friends. We also implemented congestion pricing that's been talked about since I think Mayor Bloomberg was in office. And I applaud everybody for their patience. We got it done, and those are ways that we help make our city smarter, more efficient, a better place to live.

We're also advancing the Second Avenue subway extension, talked about I think since the 1940s. That's how we serve transit deserts in Harlem. We also just this summer announced more progress on our steps to have a brand new Midtown bus terminal. So no longer do you have to go past that eyesore and say, “Why? Why does the great City of New York have this as our primary way to transport people on buses?” We kicked off construction in May after years of inaction.

And we got the White House to move ahead on Penn Station, something I had conversations with the president about in my congratulatory call back in November. Meetings about it in November and March. Phone calls again recently saying, “Let's get this moving.” Now they're going to need a lot of help from the MTA. Right, Janno? But we'll be great partners and I'm really proud that they're picking up the entire tab. Yay! Save some money for us here. So even having the partners in government at the federal level taking a major role in getting this done is something I'm enormously proud of.

So what I say is, we're finally restoring people's faith in government to deliver on grand ideas. Some call this the abundance agenda. Everybody's talking about the abundance book, right? This is how I've always operated. This is not new to me. It's how I've lived my life as a government official for over 30 years.

We're turning bold ideas into real results and transforming the way New Yorkers live, commute and travel, and giving people time and creating more and more jobs. Now, I want to commend the MTA for the engagement with the community. This is critically important. This is a big change.

It's going to be disruptive. We get that. This is when you bring in the community this early in the process. You've had open houses, hosted popups, met with residents and business owners because you have to build trust and communication to make sure this is ultimately successful with community buy-in.

And last year we promised to secure funding for the MTA capital plan. And that was expensive, Janno — very expensive, $68.4 billion. But every penny is necessary to deliver what New Yorkers deserve. Have waited for too long and to make up for decades of disinvestment when there was not the political courage to finally do what's right. So we're getting that done as well.

And also within that, we covered half the funding already. So those who say it won't happen, the IBX. $2.75 billion already committed. That's how you get it done. So many of you stood with us back in, you were there back in January of 2022. I think I'd been Governor just a few months. One of those projects - “Janno, what do you got out there? What's something new and exciting?” He won't expect to move ahead. He put this in front of me. I said, “Done. We're going for that one.”

Some of you had doubts. But I'm here today to say that this project, this next critical step is truly moving forward. So let's keep building. No more talking. Let's get it done, and let's continue to show New Yorkers what bold vision looks like, but not just a vision, what the implementation and reality is also looking like in just a few years from now.

Thank you everyone for keeping the faith. Let's get it done.