New York on subways

Welcome to Second Ave. Sagas, a blog about the New York City subway.

I’m a native New Yorker and a huge subway buff. I like riding the trains; I like reading about the trains; I like being on the trains that run for hundreds of miles underneath (and sometimes above) the streets of New York. And now I’m going to try my hand at writing about trains. With a bunch of experience blogging on the Yankees, I want to branch out.

With the Election results in for the 2006 mid-term elections, the future is looking grand for transportation in New York. Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Jerry Nadler, two of the Democrats’ prominent leaders, in positions of power, the pork should be flowing our way soon. As the Gotham Gazette wrote shortly after the election:

The election of a new governor and the Democrat’s takeover of both the House and Senate bode well for funding of transportation projects in New York City. The bottom line is that New Yorkers can seriously talk about not only the two megaprojects that are furthest along in obtaining critical federal funding — the Second Avenue subway and linking the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal — but also a second set of projects whose prospects have been less luminous.

Schumer, as the leader of the DSCC, will call in some favors to get these and other projects off the ground and running. On the House side, Nadler stands to inherit the reins of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. If Schumer, Nadler and Governor-elect Elliot Spitzer can work together, we’ll see a lot of transportation developments over the next few years, and I’ll be here to write about it. Stick around for the ride. And stand clear of the closing doors please.