revive the beacon line?

[society2]

i started a website devoted to a concept which is obviously old, but renewed because the MTA wants the city of beacon's cooperation in opening a Transit Oriented District where the beacon station parking lot currently is (a few city blocks of 5-7 story buildings). this means the city can get concessions from the MTA, such as with the beacon line. main street business is worried that the T.O.D. will steal their thunder, so to speak, in terms of shopping/ residences. so the idea is to spruce up transit between the station and the east side of main to mollify these concerns. you could run a bus, with all of the traffic, or...

http://beaconline.org

currently, i'm torn between 3 scenarios, the issue being which is most likely to work, which is the best scenario to pursue:

1. convince the MTA to revive the beacon line as a full blown branch like the New Canaan Branch. the suburbs are exploding, the ridership is there. but this undertaking is huge

2. convince the MTA to maintain the tracks and the city runs its own little tram on the line. to provide a base of ridership, put in 4-6 grade level road crossing signals, and run it to fishkill for commuters (don't cross route 9). revive an old spur (see the website above) to provide access to the west parking lot at beacon so you don't have to cross the main tracks with the tram (80 mph amtrak versus dinky tram... uggh). the problem with this scenario is its too hybrid: lots of bureaucratic rail issues to wade through that would stand in the way of allowing the tram to run

3. convince the MTA to transfer ownership of the tracks to the city of beacon, including the revived spur, disconnect it from any railway arrangement (clear out all the legal and bureaucratic bs) and let the city worry about the whole set up. but the problem here is the city has to shoulder too much for a tram with potentially tiny ridership. unless there is a way to convince the MTA to hand over the line spotless, so ongoing maintenance isn't too expensive, and to run the tram for the same cost as a simple bus route (without the traffic, and with the novelty and scenery: big plus)

again, the whole point is, the MTA is ready to make concessions to the city in order to approve the T.O.D. that's the only way any of these schemes will work

but if the beacon line is ever to be revived, the time is now precisely because of the T.O.D.

i'm just looking for jeers, cheers, and assorted substantial ruminations on the scenarios

thanks!

[Otto Vondrak]

Is there an echo in here?