NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Eliot Spitzer attended the ceremonial groundbreaking of the long-awaited No. 7 train extension at Times Square on Monday.

    Once complete, straphangers will be able to ride the 7 train from the eastern end, Flushing, to a new station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan.

    The train extension is aimed at spurring development in Hudson Yards Area, one of Manhattan's most underserved and underdeveloped areas, and will be a catalyst for realizing the Hudson Yards project.

    The economic development resulting from the completion of this 1.5 mile extension will yield approximately 60 billion dollars in tax revenues to the State and City over the next 30 years, and will create hundreds of thousands of new construction and permanent jobs, the municipal government said in a news release.

    The cost of the extension is estimated at 2.1 billion dollars and that money is coming from a mix of city, state and federal funds.