Port Authority study will consider 7 train extension to New Jersey

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is revitalizing a decades-old idea to extend the 7 train to New Jersey, and this time around, there’s a viable chance of it actually happening.

The agency is partnering up with the MTA, along with New York City Transit and New Jersey Transit to commission a long-term study on how rapid transit can expand across the Hudson River and increase commuting capacity over the next 20 years, reports the New York Times. A 7 train extension is just one of the many options that the agencies are hoping to explore, but an option nonetheless.

Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton told the Times that he has not yet discussed the possibility of connecting the city’s subway system to New Jersey with MTA officials, namely agency chairman Joe Lhota, who has stated in the past that such a connection was “not going to happen in anybody’s lifetime.” A spokesperson for the MTA declined to comment on the study.

Cotton also made it clear that the study is not a result of the now questionable future of the Gateway Tunnel project. By 2040, the number of commuters between New York and New Jersey is expected to be at a capacity that will require additional methods of transit than what is currently available.

The Port Authority has already received bids from several firms that are interested in being contracted to conduct the study.

• A Subway Ride to New Jersey? It Could Happen, Officials Say [NY Times]
• Port Authority revisits idea of 7 train expansion to New Jersey [Curbed]