NYC Leaders Push for a New Subway Station in Hell's Kitchen
The 7 train currently runs right through the neighborhood without stopping.
If city leaders get their way, a new public transit option could be on the horizon for Hell's Kitchen.
At a rally and press conference on Tuesday, politicians including Congressman Jerry Nadler, City Council Member Erik Bottcher, and State Senator Brad Hoylman called for the MTA to revive long-abandoned plans to bring a 7 train station to 10th Avenue and 41st Street. The station was once planned as part of the 7 train's extension to the Hudson Yards mega-development on Manhattan's far west side but was scrapped to save costs.
The train now runs underneath Hell's Kitchen without stopping between Times Square and Hudson Yards, despite the neighborhood experiencing a nearly 30% growth in population in the last decade, according to the latest US Census. With the Port Authority's planned expansion of its bus terminal to 10th Avenue and many residential skyscrapers popping up in the area between Hudson Yards and Hell's Kitchen, city leaders say now is the time to bring a new station to the neighborhood.
At the event, Rep. Nadler called the decision not to build the station years ago a "monumental failure" and said the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill and funding from the city's upcoming congestion pricing plan represented a new chance for the neighborhood.
In an interview with Thrillist, Councilman Bottcher echoed these comments and called for the MTA to rein in its famously inflated construction costs.
"We should be ashamed that Paris and London are building multiple trains station in a short amount of time and we're standing in front of an unbuilt train station that should have been built a decade ago," he said. "Even if they started this station today, it wouldn't be done for many years. The costs of construction relate to many issues. As I understand it, we have many more regulations and red tape involved. A real effort needs to happen to reform the process, cut out the red tape, break through the barriers, and bring down the costs. If we don't do it we're going to fall behind the rest of the world."
The potential station will be evaluated as part of the MTA's 2025–2044 20-Year Needs Assessment, which runs through October of next year. The MTA has several significant projects proposed or in the works, including the Second Avenue Subway extension in Manhattan and Governor Kathy Hochul's plan for a new Interborough Express train line connecting Brooklyn and Queens. Still, area leaders expressed optimism that they could make a case for the new 7 train stop.
"I cannot think of any location in New York City that is more compelling," said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine at the event. "We've already got the residents here. We've already got the development, the housing. The day this station opens it would be heavily used."