QueensLink, the all-volunteer nonprofit campaigning to turn the abandoned Rockaway Beach Branch into a subway extension, has launched two requests for proposals and one request for expressions of interest to study how reactivating the Queens rail corridor would reshape the local economy and housing market, work funded through a Reconnecting Communities Program grant administered by the Federal Highway Administration. The nonprofit advertised the two RFPs on Wednesday, September 30, with proposals due Wednesday, November 18.
QueensLink is running three concurrent studies. The Regional Economic Input/Output Analysis and the Housing Tenure and Anti-Displacement Study are each budgeted at about $150,000. The third, a Community Engagement Plan and Program Delivery initiative, begins as a $25,000 request for expressions of interest that will shape a $125,000 request for proposals, QNS reported.
The Federal Highway Administration grant behind the studies, from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Program, totals $500,000, QNS reported.
The housing study will analyze the project’s effect on the local housing stock and develop scenario plans for short-, medium- and long-term tenure for existing and future residents, according to its request for proposals. The selected firm will inventory the area’s housing supply, examine policies such as rent stabilization and developer tax breaks, forecast housing demand through 2040 and assess the risk of displacement. It will also develop a 20-year housing plan and recommend inclusionary housing policies and funding sources to protect existing residents.
The economic study will measure the direct, indirect and induced effects of building and operating the line, examining capital investment in central, eastern and southern Queens dating to 2005 and evaluating active and planned development projects, according to its request for proposals. The analysis builds on QueensLink’s Initial Business Case, released earlier in 2026 and authored by the Steer Group, which QNS reported found the project would generate billions of dollars in economic input along with travel time savings.
The Community Engagement Plan initiative, issued as a request for expressions of interest, will gather ideas about community engagement and advocacy work to shape the later proposal, QNS reported.
Rick Horan, executive director of QueensLink, said the findings would strengthen the case for including the project in the MTA’s 2030-34 Capital Plan, QNS reported.
“When it comes to speeding up commute times for Queens residents and expanding our city’s public transportation network, we must leave no stone unturned in creating opportunities to do exactly that,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said in a statement reported by QNS. “For families in transit deserts across South Queens and Rockaway, that means identifying more options beyond just driving or riding the bus along Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards.”
“QueensLink represents exactly the kind of forward-thinking investment our communities need,” Assemblymember Catalina Cruz said in a statement reported by QNS. “These studies will help ensure the project delivers real economic opportunity while protecting longtime residents from displacement and strengthening affordable housing along the corridor.”
QueensRail Corporation, the all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit behind the campaign, was founded in 2015 to advocate for rail on the Rockaway Beach Branch and adopted the QueensLink name in 2019 for its combined rails-and-trails plan. The project would reactivate the branch as part of the subway network with four new stations, connect it with the M train, bring the G train back to Forest Hills and keep 33 acres of the right-of-way for bicycle trails, walking paths and park space. QNS reported that the Long Island Rail Road corridor has been abandoned since 1962 and that advocates say the extension, which would connect Rego Park to Ozone Park and link with the A train to the Rockaways, would cut travel times and congestion and create tens of thousands of jobs. The Initial Business Case was funded by a GoFundMe campaign that drew more than 1,600 donors in January 2025.
Proposals for the two studies are due by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, November 18, by email to [email protected]. Questions go through QueensLink’s online form by Tuesday, October 13, and QueensLink will hold an RSVP-required question-and-answer session for proposers on Wednesday, October 14. QueensLink expects to select consultants by December 13 and issue a notice to proceed on January 4, 2027, with the studies due by July 31, 2027. Responses to the community engagement request for expressions of interest are due Friday, October 16, QNS reported.
Featured image: Eric Lustig via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
