Gov makes tracks to LIRR fete

Gov. Cuomo's infrastructure events took him to Long Island on Wednesday to break ground on a new railroad track about a week before Primary Day.

The $2.6 billion project, called Third Track — adding a new track to the Long Island Rail Road's congested main line — broke ground Wednesday and is set to open in 2022.

Earlier this week, the governor walked across a piece of the Mario Cuomo Bridge that will open Saturday. The new span replaces the old Tappan Zee Bridge between Westchester and Rockland counties.

Cuomo used the event — the same day his primary opponent Cynthia Nixon released an ad that said he “broke” the New York City subway — to run down his efforts on new infrastructure and his plan to fix train service, which fell into crisis last year.

“New York City subway system, we have subway cars 40 years old. We have electric switches that are 100 years old,” Cuomo said. “What do you think is going to happen?”

The Long Island Rail Road, he said, suffered from the same neglect.

“Old bodies break, old transportation systems break. Well why haven't we been fixing it and modernizing it and keeping up with it,” he said.

The Third Track project adds a new track between Floral Park and Hicksville that will ease reverse commuting into Long Island from Queens and add extra space for trains to avoid disruptions. It's being built alongside a second project called Double Track due to wrap up this month that will add a second track from Farmingdale to Ronkonkoma to boost service.

“It provides a significant number of major benefits at just the right time," MTA board member Mitchell Pally said.