Light Rail in the NYC area

A recent post in the Nassau St. Dinky thread in NJT got me thinking. A member suggested severing the line from the NEC so that they could just run a couple of DMU's on it. NJT has a pretty good head start on it with the Northern Branch and of course their other LRT lines, so they could probably do it.

Which led me to: what other lines around New York might lend themselves to LRT?

I'm thinking the Waterbury branch on Metro North. It's so lightly used for freight, with a Devon Transfer station to the New Haven line, it could work. A bit on the long side, though.

Any disused lines?

ENJOY:

-Erie Newark Branch and Main Line across the Passaic, both to Secaucus
-Staten Island to Cranford
-the Newark & New York Railroad from Newark Penn to Communipaw, then to Jersey City and Hoboken (yes I know it needs a couple big bridges)

Extend the existing Lightrail from Bayonne West 8th Street Station over the Bayonne Bridge (the Bridge is designed to accommodate lightrail) to Staten Island and thence on the former north shore railroad right of way to the Staten Island ferry terminal. The above mentioned line from Cranford would merge near the bridge.

NYS&W from North Bergen (HBLR connection) to Paterson City? I don't know how the freight operation would fit with temporal separation, but it was always double-tracked, so maybe there's room to do something. If the LRV operation could be kept to the north and west of the freight, would it be possible to reach a cross-platform connection with the HBLR? Where is the Light Rail line from Englewood supposed to come in?

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:57 pm would it be possible to reach a cross-platform connection with the HBLR? Where is the Light Rail line from Englewood supposed to come in?

91st Street station on the Northern Branch light rail will be right next to the NYS&W Edgewater Branch. They can probably have an interchange station there, while also opening up the opportunity for a light rail extension to Edgewater via the disused tunnel.

Aside from that, another line I think could be turned into a light rail is the remainder of the Erie Orange Branch west to Watsessing Avenue or even West Orange. The Newark Light Rail runs on the branch up to Grove Street. A light rail on the old CRNJ line from Cranford to Jersey Gardens or potentially EWR via Elizabeth would also be nice.

Would love to see the NJT light rail system connected to Staten Island over the Bayonne Bridge.

nyrmetros wrote: ↑Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:19 am Would love to see the NJT light rail system connected to Staten Island over the Bayonne Bridge.

I think there's a proposal to do so. With an elevator to connect with the north shore line after conversion to BRT.

Any updates?