SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A21

HEADLINE: DOWNTOWN-TO-KENNEDY TRAIN;
Feds back use of 9/11 funds for airport link;
In a victory for Bloomberg and Pataki, the Bush administration supports a plan to spend $2B for rail line, but $3B still needs to be found

BYLINE: BY ERROL A. COCKFIELD JR. STAFF WRITER

The Bush administration said yesterday it would support the use of $2 billion in unused 9/11 aid for the construction of a $6-billion rail link from lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport.

Winning the funds, which require congressional approval, is a victory for Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the plans' chief advocates, but the state and city would still need roughly $3 billion more for the project.

In addition to the $2 billion coming from converted tax credits, the Port Authority and the MTA have pledged a combined $960 million.

"We believe this is a significant down payment to get the project moving forward," said Pataki spokeswoman Lisa Stoll.

The announcement came a week after a group of lower Manhattan's top business leaders traveled to Washington to lobby the White House, calling the rail link the financial district's most urgent priority.

Along with direct access to an international gateway, planners say the link would shave 15 minutes off commuting times for Long Islanders headed to Lower Manhattan through Jamaica Station. Reducing those travel times, they say, would better connect businesses to the Island's labor pool.

"Downtown's got to grow, and I think businesses who didn't want to locate downtown will once this rail link is there," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), an early backer of the link.

Critics have challenged the city and state's projections that the service would serve 100,000 riders a day, generate 56,000 in jobs, and trigger $6 billion a year in economic activity. They also say the region has more pressing transit needs: a Second Avenue subway and a Long Island Rail Road connection to Grand Central Terminal.

Bettina Damiani, project director for Good Jobs New York, a taxpayer advocacy group, said the aid, which is part of a $21-billion package the city received after 9/11, should be used to address needs such as housing and joblessness.

"It's the priority of wealthy real estate interests and the governor," she said.