East Side Access - L.I.R.R. Link to Grand Central

[Kris]

February 1, 2004

Amtrak Is the Latest Roadblock in Plan to Link L.I.R.R. to Grand Central Terminal

By MATTHEW WALD

The East Side access project, a plan to bring Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal that has moved in fits and starts for 40 years, has hit a snag: Amtrak's financial straits.

Since the 1960's, the plan has been to run Long Island Rail Road trains from an existing complex of switches in Queens, shared with Amtrak, over about a mile of new track to an underused tunnel beneath the East River. That tunnel emerges in Manhattan at East 63rd Street, and from there, the trains would go through a new tunnel and join the tracks under Park Avenue that carry Metro-North trains to Grand Central. The new link would move perhaps 90,000 passengers a day on about 150 trains. It would relieve crowding at Pennsylvania Station and lure to the rails Long Island residents who work in east Midtown.

An agreement between Amtrak and the Long Island is needed because of the tangled history of the area's railroads. Amtrak's Northeast corridor was largely assembled by the old Pennsylvania Railroad. About a century ago, that railroad bought the Long Island Rail Road to get access to Manhattan. Now their ownership is separate again, with the Long Island owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Northeast corridor going to Amtrak. Ownership of the tracks in Queens is shared.

Amtrak insists that the project is not for its customers, and should therefore not cost it any money. Amtrak lives on subsidies from Congress, and the railroad says it lacks the resources to bring its aging infrastructure into a state of good repair.

It also fears delays for its trains on its major route, the Boston-New York-Washington corridor.

The East Side access project also faces substantial engineering problems, mostly in digging from the East River to Park Avenue. The project would be the largest ever undertaken by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The plan was conceived in the 60's, when the 63rd Street tunnel was built. In the early 1990's, plans were drawn up to finish the job by 1998, with about a mile of additional tunnel on either side of the existing tunnel under the river, at a cost of about $3 billion. Now the completion date is 2012 and the price is $6.3 billion.

The immediate problem, though, is on the Long Island end, at the Sunnyside Yard in Queens, owned by Amtrak, and the adjacent Harold Interlocking, a two-mile complex used for sorting trains. On the western end are two tracks carrying trains to Penn Station and two more tracks carrying them back, as well as two more that peel off toward Long Island City and Brooklyn.

On the east are additional tracks. Two of them go to the Hell Gate Bridge and then into the Bronx, a route Amtrak takes to join the Metro-North tracks in New Rochelle on its way to New Haven and Boston. Two other tracks go to the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington branch, and four go to Jamaica, Queens, and the other branches of the railroad.

During the commuter rush, trains roar through Harold Interlocking at the rate of 42 an hour. But the transportation authority would like to increase that to 66. The task is not much different from untangling the intersection of two busy, multilane streets, except that the trains are up to a quarter-mile long and some lumber through at 15 miles an hour, making maneuvering difficult.

The transportation authority is considering digging one or more tunnels so that trains coming out of Penn Station can turn left to head for Hell Gate and New England without having to cross over at grade level in front of oncoming westbound trains. That would give Amtrak an incentive to consent to allowing the work to be done on its property, authority officials say. Whatever the changes in layout, they will be for the long term, according to rail executives. "It's got to last 100 years,'' said James Dermody, president of the Long Island Rail Road, who pointed out that the current configuration of Harold was in place for the opening of the first Penn Station, in 1908.

A reconfigured Harold Interlocking could be a major boon for Amtrak, which often sees its trains lose valuable time as they pass through Harold on their way to Hell Gate and New Rochelle. Timeliness is crucial there because Metro-North, which owns the tracks from New Rochelle to New Haven, is so busy that it has assigned Amtrak "slots" at specific times, and Amtrak has been known to miss the window.

But there is also peril, in the form of extra costs. Amtrak says that the soil at Sunnyside and Harold is filled with toxic substances that have leaked or been dumped. Amtrak, near broke, is refusing to let work proceed until the transportation authority agrees to protect Amtrak against all liability and costs arising from stirring up poison dirt.

In addition, New Jersey Transit uses the yard to store trains. That, too, could be disrupted, Amtrak warned. It has sent the transportation authority a series of blunt letters, signed by David L. Gunn, now president of Amtrak, who was president of the New York Transit Authority, a component of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, from 1984 until 1990.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority insists that the dispute is not serious. Referring to contaminated soil, William M. Wheeler, the director of planning at the Long Island, said, "Amtrak hasn't shown us anything to indicate that.'' But Amtrak has avoided the word "share.'' "I must have an agreement that will not produce any additional financial burdens on Amtrak,'' Mr. Gunn wrote to Peter S. Kalikow, chairman of the transportation authority, on Dec. 4. In an earlier letter he complained that the authority was proceeding "without directly addressing Amtrak's concerns.''

Both sides say discussions are continuing, with no agreement so far.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company


http://mta.info/capconstr/esas

[Kris]

LIRR takes a step toward East Side

BY JOIE TYRRELL
STAFF WRITER

March 7, 2004

Workers have dug a 150-foot-deep hole in Long Island City that serves as one of the first steps of the East Side Access project, a multibillion-dollar transit plan linking the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal.

LIRR President James Dermody said that workers have taken down buildings on one city block and dug a pit that will provide access for the railroad to the existing 63rd Street tunnel that will eventually carry Long Islanders to the east side of Manhattan.

However, Dermody cautioned that this is preliminary work on the East Side Access project that has yet to be fully funded.

"There is some progress being made in preliminary construction, not heavy construction," Dermody said. "These are the steps you have to take to proceed to full construction and we won't have full construction until we get full funding from the government.

"In the meantime you can't sit and do nothing, because the clock is ticking."

The East Side Access alignment connects to the LIRR's Port Washington Branch and Main Line tracks within the Harold Interlocking in Sunnyside, Queens. From Harold, the alignment proceeds through a set of five tunnels under Amtrak's Sunnyside Yard to a section that begins at the edge of the existing LIRR Yard.

In that section, the five tunnels merge into two tunnels, pass under Northern Boulevard, and meet the existing 63rd Street Tunnel structure immediately west of Northern Boulevard.

Dermody said the current construction project at Northern Boulevard and 41st Street allows crews to get a tunnel-digging machine below the surface and eventually crews will tunnel east toward Harold Interlocking.

Workers are also building a yard and a shop on Arch Street to handle the railcars to be used for East Side Access.

The project is expected to be complete in 2012.

But costs in recent months have continually increased with the price tag of the project now at $6.3 billion. President George W. Bush has allocated $75 million in this year's budget and $100 million in next year's proposed budget, the single largest project approved in transportation.

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said he's optimistic the project will be fully funded. "There has been work going on for years at the work site and now there is new work," he said. "Certainly the MTA is going forward with its plans anticipating it is going to be done."

Also, the railroad is in negotiations with Amtrak as it needs to work out agreements with the rail provider. The LIRR needs easements to go under Sunnyside yard and must modify the track at Harold Interlocking.

"Those negotiations are moving," said Dermody, who is the lead negotiator in the talks.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

[ZippyTheChimp]

NY Newsday

Big plans on track

East Side access, more new cars, a third Main Line track; these and other moves are part of a proposed multibillion-dollar expansion

BY JOIE TYRRELL
STAFF WRITER

March 17, 2004

In a daily game of transit hopscotch, Long Island Rail Road commuter Robert Audette takes the railroad to Queens then jumps to the No. 7 subway, then catches the 4 or the 5 downtown.

To get to his lower Manhattan office, "it's over two hours and 15 minutes one way," said Audette, of Shirley. "It's definitely an inconvenience to change trains. Each one is a separate mini-commute and they have their own separate problems."

That all may change over the next decade, as the Long Island Rail Road readies for what could be the biggest expansion in its 170-year history. In store are multimillion-dollar capital projects, from new cars to storage yards to changes in routes that could, for the first time, connect Long Island commuters to the East Side and possibly lower Manhattan.

It's an incredible wish list reaching into the billions of dollars, with target completion dates reaching into the next decade. Yet competition for transit dollars will be fierce, and some close to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the parent agency of the LIRR, say that funding for all of them may be reaching for a "pie-in-the-sky."

MTA executives are confident the capital projects for the LIRR eventually will be funded, offering commuters more service and travel alternatives. The last major LIRR expansion took place in 1898 with construction of the track from Great Neck to Port Washington.

"One of the major reasons is to take a 19th-century system and bring it into the 21st century," said MTA executive director Katie Lapp. "I think we can get these projects off the ground and get the funding for them, which I am optimistic we will."

But transit watchers, worried about future fare hikes, say state and federal governments are kicking in fewer dollars than they have for past capital projects. And the MTA has already borrowed so much that debt service is expected to grow to $1.7 billion annually by 2007.

"The real worry is how are you going to fund them?" said Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the LIRR Commuters Council, a riders' advocacy group. "You can't keep borrowing and have this huge debt service, because the fare will go so high that nobody will use the system."

The project most likely to move forward is East Side Access. In the works for three decades, it will mean a one-seat rail link from Long Island to Grand Central using an existing, but unused, tunnel at 63rd Street.

So far, preliminary construction has started in Long Island City. Railroad officials are awaiting full funding for the project. The price tag has ballooned over the years from $4.3 billion in 1998 to $6.3 billion now. Federal officials say that $800 million in state and federal money has already been committed. It is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

"Certainly, the MTA is optimistic and I'm optimistic," said Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford).

LIRR President James Dermody said he is awaiting a funding grant from the Federal Transit Administration. He's hopeful the agreement will be in place by this summer. "Then it becomes almost automatic" in President George W. Bush's budget, Dermody said.

John Scofield, spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, said, "It is extremely unlikely that those funds would stop flowing."

Roadblocks along the way

There have been a few snags, including modifications to the Sunnyside Yard, which is owned by Amtrak. Dermody is negotiating with Amtrak to resolve the issues, including allowing access to the nearby Arch Street yard and shop.

The railroad needs East Side Access, Dermody said, because the railroad is at capacity at Penn Station and can't add any more trains.

"It's a better option," said commuter Margaret Domenech of East Islip, whose office is between Park and Madison avenues. "Plus you don't have to have extra expense of the subway."

But along with the added capacity comes the need on Long Island for rail improvements to handle more trains. The railroad is trying to site a 16-track storage yard on the Port Jefferson line east of Huntington that would allow the LIRR to add service on the branch.

Public hearings last year were attended by many residents who opposed construction of a yard in their neighborhoods. The railroad has narrowed selection to six sites in Huntington and Smithtown.

While a yard will allow the railroad to add service on the Port Jefferson line, a major overhaul of the Main Line is in the works as well. LIRR officials call it the Main Line Corridor Improvement project, and it would mean building a third track along the Main Line from Bellerose to Hicksville.

Dermody said it would allow an expanded service for commuters who travel against the rush hour and also could handle freight, taking some trucks off congested highways. It would also mean the elimination of five grade crossings in Mineola, New Hyde Park and Westbury and substantial station rehabilitation.

"If we can get through the [environmental study] and get a ... decision, the only other drawback is the question of funding," Dermody said.

Sources close to the MTA say it could be a tough sell. The double-track Main Line travels right through the heart of Long Island, and community opposition could be strong.

"For a significantly lower cost than East Side Access, it provides significant and so many different benefits for the LIRR," said Mitch Pally, vice president of government affairs at the Long Island Association, a large business group.

Link to lower Manhattan

Pally, however, had harsh words for a recent proposal announced by the MTA and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. that could link the LIRR to lower Manhattan.

Considered a priority of Gov. George Pataki, the plan would allow passengers to board trains at Kennedy Airport or the Long Island Rail Road's Jamaica station and ride through Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn.

The plan differs in how riders would be sped from Brooklyn to Manhattan. They include building and enhancing tunnels under the East River.

A final design plan should be picked next month. It could cost up to $6 billion, with project supporters saying funding could come from Sept. 11 redevelopment money.

Pally said it's an expensive project that would save only about 90 seconds in commuting times for about 3,000 Long Islanders. One source close to the MTA called the project a "pie-in-the-sky" proposal.

Other projects planned for the railroad in coming years include completion of the purchase of new M-7 electric cars, which, by 2007, will transform the aging fleet.

Railroad officials are also looking to build a yard east of Ronkonkoma that would mean extending electrification farther into Suffolk County.

"Long Island has changed," Pally said. "The railroad is trying to change.

"The railroad does better now than it ever did before," he added. "Now, we want to give it additional capacity to do what it has never done before."

Upgrading the LIRR

The Long Island Rail Road is embarking on one of the most ambitious capital improvement projects in its 170-year history, with six potential service upgrades that, if completed, could cost billions of dollars.

1. East Side access

What it will do: Connect Long Islanders to East Side of Manhattan.

What it will cost: $6.3 billion

Completion date: 2012

Challenges: LIRR must negotiate with Amtrak; funding must be secured. Forecast: Very likely. Federal and state sources say funding will be secured.

2. Lower Manhattan rail link

What it will do: Establish oneseat ride to lower Manhattan from LIRR Jamaica station.

What it will cost: As much as $6 billion

Completion date: Construction timetable and completion date expected in spring.

Challenges: Funding; also, strong opposition from LI business and some transit advocacy groups.

Forecast: Questionable, and some transit watchers say highly unlikely.

3. Main line corridor improvement

What it will do: Add third main line track to critical 10 1/2-mile corridor between

Bellerose, Queens and Hicksville. Eliminate five grade crossings; likely improve some stations and bridges.

What it will cost: Unknown, likely in the multimillions.

Completion date: By 2015

Challenges: Could face community opposition.

Forecast: Hard to tell; project in early planning stages.

4. Port Jefferson line yard

What it will do: Add service on Port Jefferson line; extend electrification east of

Huntington for five of the six sites under consideration.

What it will cost: $75 million (estimated), not including cost of electrification of yard ($10 million per mile).

Completion date: 2011

Challenges: Neighborhood opposition.

Forecast: Somewhat likely.

Long Island business leaders say the yard is a must.

5. Yard east of Ronkonkoma

What it will do: Offer new options for residents east of Ronkonkoma, including direct service to both Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal; also, additional service branchwide and parking relief.

What it will cost: LIRR assumes $50 million, not including cost of electrification of the yard site ($10 million per mile).

Completion date: 2012, tied to opening of East Side access.

Challenges: Still in the very early stages.

Forecast: Promising. Transitwatchers say LIRR has made this a top priority; East

Enders have asked for more service.

6. M-7 Purchase

What it will do: Take fleet from oldest to newest cars. By 2010, about 85 percent of electric fleet will be new M7 cars; fleet size will be 20 percent larger than in 2002.

What it will cost: For 678 cars, $1.3 billion

Completion date: For currently funded car purchase, 2007.

Challenges: Some critics have said cars are too cramped, but commuters give them high marks.

Forecast: A done deal.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

[STT757]

Im a big proponet of connecting Lower Manhattan to the outer Suburbs and the Airports, however the cost to benefit ratio with regards to connecting Lower Manhattan to Long Island is probably not worth $6 Billion Dollars.

First of all Long Island is a mature suburb, connecting the LIRR is not going to draw new people to Long Island. The rail link would benefit people who are already commuting from Long Island to Lower Manhattan, as the article noted it's not that many people.

54% of Lower Manhattan's workforce from outside NYC proper comes from New Jersey, a number that is likely to grow because of the housing boom in New Jersey to which is still growing and still has not reached maturity.

New Jersey does not have a direct link to the Suburbs from Lower Manhattan, they have the PATH from Jersey City, Hoboken and Newark.

If 54% of Lower Manhattan's suburban commuters make do with the NJ Transit-PATH connection why can't LIRR commuters to Lower Manhattan (which are much less than the number who commute from New Jersey) make do with a LIRR-NYC Subway connection.

The more I think about it the more the "Super Subway" plan that has already been put forth to connect Lower Manhattan to JFK makes much more sense than building a brand new East river tunnel and building new Stations, lay up yards in Lower Manhattan for the LIRR.

You can develop the "Super Subway" plan to connect with JFK for probably $1 Billion Dollars (or less), which is a huge difference compared to $6 Billion Dollars + that a new East River tunnel would cost.

The money that would have been spent for the new East River tunnel would be better spent towards the ESA and or the SAS, both projects have estimated ridership numbers that dwarfs the best estimates for potential ridership should the LIRR be connected to Lower Manhattan.

The Port Authority is set to extend PATH service on the World Trade Center line from Downtown Newark to Newark Airport for approximetly $500 Million, you can build the "Super Subway" to connect Lower Manhattan to JFK for $1 Billion or less.

Which means you can connect Lower Manhattan to both Newark Airport and JFK Airport for approximetly $1.5 - $2 Billion Dollars, which provides more bang for the buck than the LIRR to Lower Manhattan $6 Billion Dollar + plan.

[Kris]

May 9, 2004

Seeing One Tunnel Too Many

By VIVIAN S. TOY

MARK HUDAK is an insurance defense lawyer from Uniondale who travels to Lower Manhattan at least three times a week for court appearances.

Like many commuters, he has tested different railroad and subway combinations to try to shave as many minutes as possible from his travel time. His current favored option takes about 70 minutes and involves changing trains at Jamaica and switching to a subway at the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic/Flatbush terminal in Brooklyn.

Even though the last leg of his morning journey is the shortest, he said, "waiting for the subway is when I consider my work day beginning, because it's the toughest part of the trip. The rest is more relaxed and predictable."

So, like other commuters destined for Lower Manhattan who were interviewed last week at the Mineola train station, Mr. Hudak said he welcomed a plan proposed by Governor Pataki on Wednesday that would finally create a one-seat ride from Lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport and the Jamaica terminal of the Long Island Rail Road.

"Anything that takes us anywhere near downtown without having to switch to a subway would make perfect sense," Mr. Hudak said. He added, though, that he would reserve final judgment until he determined how much time and money he would save from the proposed train link.

Mr. Pataki proposed a $6 billion plan to build a new tunnel under the East River that would link Lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport and Long Island. He said the new rail link could cut 15 minutes from a Long Islander's commute to downtown Manhattan and could handle up to 100,000 passengers a day.

"Long Islanders as well as Queens and Brooklyn commuters will experience a more direct and more comfortable trip to Lower Manhattan," Mr. Pataki said. He said the new link would reduce congestion on subways that carry Long Island riders from Penn Station or the Atlantic Terminal and would also strengthen the competitiveness of the airport by giving air travelers a 36-minute connection from Kennedy to Manhattan.

The plan would allow riders to get to Lower Manhattan from the airport and the Jamaica railroad terminal in Queens in a newly designed hybrid vehicle that would travel on the tracks of the AirTrain and altered tracks of the Long Island Rail Road. The new train would travel from the airport, through Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn and then through the new tunnel into Manhattan.

The proposal is also supported by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but perhaps the loudest and most persistent lobbyists for the new connection have been downtown business leaders, who feel that Lower Manhattan has for too long been at a competitive disadvantage to Midtown because it lacks one-seat access to the suburbs.

But there has been no corresponding clamor for the rail link from Long Islanders. Indeed, business leaders, transit advocates and planning experts have questioned the need for the project, particularly when limited transportation dollars are needed for other projects they deem more pressing, particularly the East Side Access plan to connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal.

Transit advocates said last week that they were skeptical of the estimate that the downtown link would cut a commute by 15 minutes, and noted that only those Long Islanders who are headed to the World Trade Center area, where the train would stop, would actually achieve those savings. Others who work farther downtown or uptown would still have to walk or take a subway to get to their jobs, reducing any time savings.

"The downtown link is not the highest priority for Long Island, from our perspective," said Mitchell H. Pally, the vice president for government affairs at the Long Island Association, the Island's largest business group. "We're not opposed to it, but there are more important projects that we want to make sure are implemented and finished."

Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter's Council, agreed. "We don't support downtown access because it's very, very expensive and the case has not been made that enough people would use it and we're dealing with scarce dollars," she said. The Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit agency that focuses on 31 counties in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, estimated that only 5,000 to 8,000 riders might use the new link during peak hours, based on current ridership figures. The association did its analysis prior to the governor's announcement, which relied on recommendations made in a joint study done by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city Economic Development Corporation.

"In terms of cost benefit and the number of riders it would benefit, it just doesn't make sense," Ms. Dolinsky said. "You're going to spend $6 billion for 5,000 riders at rush hour?" Estimates for the proposed $17 billion Second Avenue subway anticipate 220,000 riders on its first day.

Mr. Pataki said last week that the Port Authority had already committed $560 million for the downtown rail link and that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation would also kick in some funding. There also is an estimated $2.8 billion left from the $21 billion federal relief package designated for Lower Manhattan after Sept. 11 that could be tapped.

But opponents of the downtown link fear that the governor ultimately will also have to seek federal transportation dollars, and the downtown link will then come in direct competition with other Long Island transportation projects, particularly given the governor's timetable for the new tunnel. Mr. Pataki said he expected to begin the formal environmental review process for the downtown rail link this summer. He said he hoped to see construction begin in 2006 and have service begin in 2013.

Senator Charles E. Schumer said he supports the idea of a rail link to downtown, but only if the federal relief package for Lower Manhattan can cover the bulk of its cost. "I think this is a good idea for downtown and for Long Island, but we should not use transit bill money to build it," he said. "That money should go to East Side Access and other transportation projects."

Mr. Pally said that other Long Island railroad projects that should have higher priority include the East Side Access project, which is scheduled for completion in 2012, and a third track on the railroad's Main Line, which would allow a significant expansion of service between Bellerose and Hicksville and is supposed to be completed in 2016. Even longer-range projects like transportation alternatives in the Nassau Hub, the expansion of Route 347 on the North Shore of Suffolk County and the building of a new freight tunnel under New York Harbor, which would reduce truck traffic on Long Island, should take precedence, he added.

"All these projects would impact more people and provide additional options for Long Islanders," Mr. Pally said. "With the limited amount of state and federal funding that's out there, these other projects should definitely take priority."

Gene Russianoff, staff attorney of the New York Public Interest Research Group Straphangers Campaign, said the M.T.A. and the federal government would be hard-pressed to come up with additional funding to help pay the $6 billion price tag for the downtown rail link. "How do you do that while still progressing the Second Avenue subway and East Side Access, which in our view are the region's top priorities?" he asked. "The M.T.A. already has big capital needs to fix and maintain the existing system and is already challenged to find resources for new projects."

Jon Orcutt, an associate director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit transit advocacy group, said he was pleased that the governor last week expressed a clear preference for a new tunnel over proposals to use existing subway tunnels. "That takes away the political problem of having to battle subway riders and disrupting their service," he said. "But then it just becomes another one of these big-ticket projects in search of funding."

He and other transit advocates warned that while planning for East Side Access is complete, the $6.3 billion needed to finish the project has not yet been secured. "The Long Island Rail Road's entire network strategy for the 21st century revolves around it," Mr. Orcutt said. "And it's already unclear how they're going to pay for it."

Planning for the East Side Access project began about 30 years ago. A two-level tunnel connecting Manhattan to Queens at 63rd Street was completed in 1989, but it only extends to Second Avenue in Manhattan and does not connect to existing rail lines in Queens. The subway system has been using the upper level of the tunnel for the last decade, but the lower level was intended for the Long Island Rail Road and has never been used.

John McCarthy, a spokesman for the M.T.A., said work to finally connect the empty tunnel to the railroad began last winter, including the building of a rail yard in Long Island City and the opening of a hole in Sunnyside to eventually complete the tunnel connection. The project involves building 3.5 more miles of tunnel and a new station that would go beneath the existing Grand Central concourse. The M.T.A. so far has committed $1.5 billion to the project and M.T.A. officials hope to have the federal government foot half of the total $6.3 billion cost.

The Regional Plan Association has long been an advocate for East Side Access, because some 60,000 Long Island commuters would save up to 22 minutes in travel time each way once Long Island Rail Road trains can stop at Grand Central. "It would strengthen the economy of Long Island by making it a much more attractive place to live for commuters who work in the city," said Jeffrey Zupan, a transportation expert with the association.

But the group has been more circumspect about the downtown rail link because it would end at the World Trade Center transportation center, and does not offer other stops in Lower Manhattan. The group has also recommended that any new tunnel be connected to the proposed Second Avenue subway, which then could be extended into Brooklyn. "The tunnel then would have a huge value for people in Brooklyn who now have very limited options for getting into the East Side of Manhattan," Mr. Zupan said. "The only way for a new tunnel to make sense is to connect it to the rest of the system."

Last week, Mr. Pataki stressed that while the proposed downtown link would end at the World Trade Center Transportation Center, it eventually could be extended to the Second Avenue subway or other existing subway lines. He and other proponents for the new tunnel said they did not believe it would compete for federal dollars with East Side Access or other projects.

"East Side Access is moving ahead as it should," said Carl Weisbrod, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. "And the downtown rail link is a project that complements and supports East Side Access because it will strengthen the Long Island labor market and the Long Island economy's connection to the New York City region."

Mr. Weisbrod played down estimates for ridership on the new link that are based on current commuter statistics. "This is a different kind of transportation project and you have to view this more as an economic development project," he said.

The estimated 5,000 Long Island commuters who now come into Lower Manhattan during each peak travel hour "are hardy souls who make a very, very difficult commute to Lower Manhattan," Mr. Weisbrod said. New Jersey residents, on the other hand, have a much easier trip and as a result make up 25 percent of the downtown workforce, he added.

"Long Island ridership will increase dramatically once the opportunity for a much easier commute is available," he said. "That's why we have to view this project not just from the viewpoint of how it serves existing riders, but as a way of creating opportunity for the region as a whole."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[TonyO]

From NY1

City Taking Bids To Link LIRR To Grand Central Terminal

MAY 18TH, 2004

The city is now accepting bids to build a mile-long tunnel to bring Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal.

The contract will be awarded in August. Excavation is expected to start next year and wrap up in 2011 or 2012.

The price tag has been estimated at more than $6 billion, including the cost of buying property and new trains.

Trains will cross the East River from Queens into Manhattan through an unused level of the 63rd Street subway tunnel, then head down the existing tracks beneath Park Avenue to Grand Central.

President George Bush has endorsed the project, but he hasn't said how much federal money will be available to fund it.

[Kris]

November 20, 2004

Plan to Connect L.I.R.R. to Grand Central Hits Snag

By IAN URBINA

The plan to bring Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal has hit a snag, with a group of well-heeled businesses and developers opposing construction of a large building in Midtown that would house essential equipment and operations.

Citing concerns about pollution, traffic and security, neighbors of the proposed building, on 50th Street between Madison and Park Avenues, have accused the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of ducking the rules to get the project approved. They say that after having submitted the proposal for environmental review, the agency changed the project's location, breaking its promise to disperse the equipment around the neighborhood and opting to centralize it in a 16-story building. It would house diesel fuel tanks, backup generators and the main ventilation system for the project's tunnel.

"You can not put a building of this size, housing this type of equipment, in the center of New York City without proper review," said Roger M. Roisman, a lawyer representing the William Kaufman Organization and the St. Paul Travelers Companies, which own property next to the proposed building and are suing the authority to get it to conduct an environmental impact study on it.

"Whether or not it was their intention, the M.T.A. has avoided a public review and required environmental review of this facility."

Roco Krsulic, director of real estate for the authority, said that the building would be smaller than opponents have claimed, probably seven or eight stories. He said that centralizing the equipment was the best option because it would eliminate the need to tear up East 50th Street to put the equipment underground in various locations.

"The building will be entirely safe for the surrounding area," Mr. Krsulic said, adding that if there had been safety or environmental hazards connected to the equipment, the authority would not be building the same sort of warehouse next to its own headquarters in Manhattan.

But some neighbors, including Saks Fifth Avenue and the Palace Hotel, are unconvinced, and have formed a group called the Citizens for a Safe East 50th Street to press their concerns.

The group says there are three problems with the M.T.A.'s current plan, most significantly that the building would be "a magnet for terrorist attack" because of the explosive potential of large diesel tanks in such a densely populated area.

Further, it says that the ventilation system would spew stale air and potentially hazardous fumes from the tunnel into an area where the air intake systems for two adjacent buildings are located. And it says the building would worsen traffic problems along an already congested 50th Street, because it would have several loading docks for delivery and trash trucks.

On Oct. 7, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, a Manhattan Democrat, wrote Tom Ridge, the federal homeland security secretary, on behalf of the group, expressing her concerns about security and the explosive potential of the fuel tanks that would be in the building. Members of the group say that representatives from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York have been attending their monthly meetings and expressing their opposition to the building, which would be around the corner from St. Patrick's Cathedral. The archdiocese also owns the land under the Palace Hotel, opposite the proposed building.

Bob Liff, a spokesman for the group, said, "The irony here is that all these parties actually support the East Side access project." He said the project would be great for business in the area, but added, "We just feel that this one part of the plan has problems."

Opposition to the 50th Street building is unlikely to block the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2012, but it does represent yet another headache for the authority. In the late 1970's, similar resistance to a ventilation tower on York Avenue near 63rd Street delayed construction on a subway tunnel beneath the East River for two and a half years.

Under the current plan, the authority would acquire and demolish four low-rise buildings at 44, 46, 48 and 50 East 50th Street to make way for the new building. Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the M.T.A., said that the authority was considering several alternatives suggested by the neighborhood group. "This area will benefit greatly from the project,'' he said, "but at the same time we are going do everything we can to accommodate the neighborhood's concerns.''

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[TonyO]

NYObserver

Kaboom! MTA Plans Could Blow Up Midtown, Say Neighbors

by Ben Smith

Midtown property owners and their congresswoman are claiming that a planned Metropolitan Transportation Authority installation could turn into an explosive terrorist target with the potential to damage landmarks such as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

At the center of the controversy is a planned 16-story building on East 50th Street between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue, right across the street from the Palace Hotel. The building would serve as a ventilation and cooling tower for a link between the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal. Local property owners have been fighting the facility in court, arguing that it would bring traffic and pollution.

But the MTA’s plans to store diesel fuel for an emergency generator in or beneath the building is stirring the most concern, prompting Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to write a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, stating that the facility would create a “homeland security threat to thousands of workers and pedestrians.”

“Concerned neighbors point out that terrorists could target the building knowing that the resulting conflagration would likely destroy the surrounding buildings and spread to the underground passenger concourse below,” Ms. Maloney wrote in the October 7 letter.

The spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Tom Kelly, said he hadn’t seen the letter, and did not comment in detail on the project.

“We will take all safety and security precautions in the design and construction of the building,” he said.

Neighbors aren’t convinced. Representatives of the Palace Hotel, the Kaufman Organization, the restaurant group Smith & Wollensky, and St. Paul Travelers Companies, all with interests nearby, wrote their own letter to Secretary Ridge comparing the diesel fuel storage to the fuel tanks the explosion of which helped bring down 7 World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, also said, “We have been following the matter with concern.”

Managers of the Waldorf-Astoria were not immediately available for comment.

The new building would stand on the south side of 50th Street, just west of the Colgate-Palmolive building. The Waldorf-Astoria is half a block east, and the grounds of St. Patrick’s begin half a block west. The building would replace four smaller structures, including the one housing the venerable Italian restaurant Giambelli 50th.

The new building would be part of a $5 billion plan conceived 30 years ago and on schedule for completion in 2012. The East Side Access project would link Long Island commuters directly to Grand Central, giving them access to East Side subway lines and the commuter rail that the current Penn Station connection makes inconvenient. In the plan’s current form, LIRR riders would disembark deep below Park Avenue and be transported by escalators to a new concourse closer to Grand Central.

The legal battle over the site has focused on the MTA’s decision not to perform a full environmental review when it decided to change its original plans – according to a 2002 MTA assessment of project changes – because a facility on 50th street would “consolidate many ancillary facilities in one location and reduce construction and maintenance costs.” That would include the emergency generator, and its fuel, which would power the escalators in case of a blackout.

Lawyers for the neighbors filed a request for a preliminary injunction this spring, demanding that the MTA complete a full environmental review. They withdrew their request when the MTA agreed to that review, which a lawyer for the owners of 437 Madison Avenue, Roger Roisman, said is expected any day.

But the battle appears to be just heating up. Project opponents have already retained lawyers, consultants, and public relations teams, and have even produced a thick study touting an alternative proposal.

[alex ballard]

It would be a neat idea to have the LIRR get an equal-size terminal under GCT. Then both MNRR and LIRR would get all the space they need. They should also route MNRR over the Hells Gate Bridge to Penn Station where they too can have a terminal. Anyone here think NJT/Amtrak should go to GCT?

[Deimos]

NJT would be too much of a pain to re-route to GCT although it's a good idea. I don't think there is a need for two seperate amtrak stations in the city since the purpose of amtrak is to move people between the cities.

[Kris]

January 13, 2005

M.T.A. Finds Midtown Vent Project Sound; Critics Vow Fight

By SEWELL CHAN

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which wants to build a 16-story ventilation tower as part of a plan to connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal, has concluded that the project is environmentally sound. Opponents of the tower proposal immediately rejected that finding yesterday.

The structure, to be built on East 50th Street between Madison and Park Avenues, would cost $62 million and house ventilation equipment, cooling towers, emergency generators, a fuel tank, a loading dock and a freight elevator - all sandwiched within a dense commercial block whose occupants have filed a lawsuit to stop the project.

Finding a way to adequately ventilate a new Long Island Rail Road terminal to be built deep below street level and serve an estimated 160,000 people a day has been an engineering priority for the authority. The proposed building would provide fresh air for the terminal and be a staging area for construction crews working on the project.

Under the plan, five existing buildings - at 44, 46, 48 and 50 East 50th Street and at 45 East 49th Street - would be acquired and demolished. The project would take about six years to complete.

In response to the lawsuit, filed in May 2003, the authority agreed to study the impact of the proposed project. The study, finished this week, concluded there would be no major negative effects on land use, traffic, air quality, noise, public safety and the environment.

The authority's arguments have not persuaded Representative Carolyn B. Maloney and Assemblyman Jonathan L. Bing, two Democrats who represent the area and issued statements yesterday calling the study a bid to rationalize a flawed plan.

"This building, if built as proposed, would cause a tremendous amount of environmental problems, in terms of the fuel that will be kept in the building, the exhaust and the potential danger to the neighborhood if this building were ever subject to a natural disaster or a terrorist attack," Mr. Bing said in an interview.

A lawyer for the owners of 437 Madison Avenue, an office building that would be next to the tower, called the study a sham. "It's ludicrous to call this a serious study or assessment," said the lawyer, John A. Herfort. "It doesn't lay out the underlying facts that are necessary to justify any of these conclusions, which appear to have been preordained."

A spokesman for the authority, Tom Kelly, said the report was thorough, fair and methodically conducted. "We never dismiss the sentiments of the community or of elected officials," Mr. Kelly said. "The environmental study can be commented on, and we're having a public hearing on Feb. 10. We solicit and seek input from everyone in the community."

Mr. Herfort and other lawyers for property owners in the area said they expected to continue their legal challenge. "Litigation is part of the process for any expansion," Mr. Kelly said. "Everybody litigates."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

February 9, 2005

U.S. Backs Second Ave. Subway and Midtown Rail Plan

By SEWELL CHAN

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/f.gifederal officials gave two long-planned transit projects - the Second Avenue subway and a Long Island Rail Road extension to Grand Central Terminal - an important endorsement yesterday, adding to pressure on Albany to come up with nearly $10 billion in state matching funds.

Out of 27 projects throughout the country assessed in an annual evaluation by the Federal Transit Administration, the two New York City projects were the only ones to be "highly recommended." Congress uses the recommendations to decide where to spend transit money. That endorsement may do little, however, to alter the situation in Albany, where Gov. George E. Pataki proposed a budget last month that would give the Metropolitan Transportation Authority $19.2 billion for its next five-year capital program, far less than the $27.7 billion requested.

The budget would include $2 billion over five years for expansion projects like the subway line and the rail extension, about a quarter of what the authority says it needs to open the first segment of the subway by 2011 and the Midtown rail extension by 2012.

While the issue of state aid is unresolved, the endorsement yesterday was a step toward the authority's goal of obtaining a multiyear agreement that would lock in federal aid for the projects.

The administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, an arm of the Department of Transportation, said she envisioned ultimately spending $2.6 billion, or 34 percent, of the $7.7 billion cost of the 3.5-mile rail extension, and $1.3 billion, or 30 percent, of the $4.3 billion needed for the initial 2.3-mile segment of the Second Avenue subway. She suggested that support from New York State would be critical to keep the projects moving.

"We are awaiting, primarily, the state-local funding commitment, and it is our understanding that deliberations continue now with the Legislature and with the M.T.A. about that commitment," the administrator, Jennifer L. Dorn, said in a conference call with reporters. "We believe strongly that if the federal government is going to make a contractual commitment, subject to appropriations, for the completion of the entire project, that the state-locality should do the same."

Ms. Dorn said of the two projects, "one is substantially ahead, in terms of time frame, than the other."

The Long Island Rail Road extension has so far received $254.5 million in federal money. The transit administration recommended that another $390 million be provided in fiscal 2006, and it expects to issue a financing agreement for the project in the next few months, which would essentially guarantee federal support for the duration of construction, assuming that the state provides its share.

The Second Avenue subway has received $8.9 million in federal aid, according to the transit administration, which said it expected to approve the project's final design early this year.

According to Federal Transit Administration documents, the subway line would serve 202,000 riders and the rail extension would serve 167,300 riders each weekday by 2025. "Each of these projects has significant federal support and incredible transportation benefits to a significant population," Ms. Dorn said.

Also yesterday, the Empire State Transportation Alliance, a coalition of civic, environmental and transportation groups, announced a $500,000 advertising campaign to promote financing of five-year capital programs for mass transit and state highways.

Janette Sadik-Khan, who was a transportation adviser to Mayor David N. Dinkins and a deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration under President Bill Clinton, said fast-growing areas in the West and South were likely to lobby Congress for the same federal transit dollars that New York needs.

"It's crucial that the state come up with the local match for these projects or we will find the money diverted to other parts of the country: Denver, Dallas, Portland, Phoenix," she said.

But Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for Mr. Pataki, said the risk of losing federal money had been overstated. "There is absolutely no indication that any actions to date would jeopardize future funds," she said.

Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[NewYorkYankee]

Lets all keep our fingers crossed! These two projects NEED THE GREEN LIGHT!

[Kris]

East Side Access Draws Opponents

BY MAURA YATES - Special to the Sun

February 10, 2005

East Side Access, a plan by the MTA to link the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal through caverns deep underground, was "highly recommended" for federal subsidies by the Bush administration this week. Opponents of part or all of the plan have argued, however, that it is dangerous and profligate.

As described by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the $6.3 billion project will be a boon for 160,000 commuters a day, as well as the East Side businesses for which they are employees or customers.

Chief among the complaints of the project's opponents is a ventilation facility, planned for East 50th Street. They say it will be a ticking time bomb, with fuel tanks in the basement and a tower spewing tainted exhaust in a bustling neighborhood.

The only public hearing by the MTA and the Federal Transit Administration is scheduled for today. Concerned residents of the East Side had an opportunity to pose their questions to an MTA representative last week during a meeting of Community Board 5's transportation committee. The board, which cautiously supports the East Side Access plan, has recommended that the MTA closely consider public concerns and an alternative plan, which opponents said not only would be safer but would save as much as $2 billion.

East Side Access calls for building a four-platform terminal 15 stories below Grand Central to accommodate eight tracks for the Long Island Railroad. The project will shave an estimated 30 to 40 minutes off the commuting time of Long Islanders who work on the East Side and must now transfer at Penn Station before making their way back east across town.

To provide a supply of fresh air to the two immense caverns deep beneath the terminal - the MTA says it would be the largest mined underground terminal ever built in America - plans call for building the ventilation tower on the south side of 50th, between Park and Madison avenues. That is an area ringed with buildings of historic interest, including St. Patrick's Cathedral, Saks Fifth Avenue, and the Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

The facility would house ventilation intakes, exhausts, and fans and related equipment; a loading dock to allow trucks to enter for waste removal, and a freight elevator. Five low-rise buildings would be demolished to make way for the facility, which from the outside would resemble an office building with a glass-and-metal facade.

According to the MTA's recently released environmental assessment, the proposed facility would not have any significant adverse impacts - a conclusion some East Side residents dispute.

Assemblyman Jonathan Bing said he supports the East Side Access concept but objects to some aspects of the plan, which he said are dangerous to commuters and East Side residents.

One issue that has neighbors worried is plans for the basement storage of two fuel tanks, each holding between 6,000 and 8,000 gallons, to power emergency generators. The fuel tanks evoke memories of the explosion that brought down 7 World Trade Center on September 11, Mr. Bing said.

"Whether it's the target of a terrorist attack or natural disaster," the legislator said, "it could burn a large portion of Midtown Manhattan."

The MTA's representative at last week's meeting, Audrey Heffernan, pointed out that many buildings throughout the city, including several in the area of the proposed facility, have fuel tanks in their basements, and she said the MTA has much more stringent safety measures than those in force at some of those buildings. In addition, she said, the facility's fuel tanks will be stored deep in bedrock.

Aside from the specter of the entire East Side's being consumed by an inferno, Mr. Bing expressed concern about a less apocalyptic scenario: health problems developing from exposure to the vent's exhaust. Some East Side residents fear that the mist spewing from the ventilation tower will become contaminated with Legionnaire's-type bacteria or, in the case of a terrorist attack, even more lethal material.

According to the MTA, however, water will be circulated and treated before it is emitted, to prevent such contamination. Further, representatives of the transportation authority said that the exhaust would consist only of ambient air vented from the terminal, which would be free of pollutants, and that the elevated air-intake system, within a building that it will own and operate, would increase protection of the station's air supply against terrorism.

Among the plan's opponents is Cardinal Edward Egan, who is wary of the tower's proximity to the city's most famous religious institution.

"We are concerned about it because it is very close to St. Patrick's Cathedral," the communications director for the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, told The New York Sun. "We have been in ongoing touch with the governor's office to express concerns about it, and we will continue to do that."

In light of environmental and safety concerns, not to mention the MTA's budget woes, opponents of the plan are pushing for adoption of an option called the Upper Level Loop Alternative. It would route LIRR trains onto existing Metro North tracks into Grand Central, avoiding the perceived perils of having a concourse buried deep below Park Avenue, while saving billions of dollars.

Ms. Heffernan called the alternative "fatally flawed," saying the loop option would cut service to Metro North by 50% during the extended construction period and by 30% when both systems are working at full capacity.

"I don't know why you would want to save a few billions of dollars to build a transportation system that on the first day is overcrowded and cuts service to Metro North," Ms. Heffernan said at last week's community meeting.

A serious look into the Upper Level Loop Alternative would require a new environmental impact study, Ms. Heffernan said, which would lead to a three-year delay, resulting in the "same cost for a far inferior service."

Another concern expressed by East Side residents is whether the proposed $16.8 billion Second Avenue subway line will be completed before East Side Access. If not, they worry that the influx of LIRR commuters would aggravate overcrowding of the Lexington Avenue subway line. The first phase of the Second Avenue subway project, a segment from 96th Street south that would connect to the Sixth Avenue line at E. 63rd Street, is expected by 2012 and has a price tag of $3.8 billion.

"If you bring in East Side Access to Grand Central, it will place a tremendous burden on what is already the most crowded form of transportation in the country, the Lexington Avenue line," Mr. Bing said. "Without putting comparable funding for the Second Avenue line, it will make overcrowding even worse."

Although the LIRR-Grand Central connection is also scheduled for completion by 2012, many wonder if that goal can be reached, as the MTA struggles for funds.

Governor Pataki, in releasing his budget last month, called for an allocation of $19.2 billion for the MTA over the next five years, $8.5 billion less than requested. A significantly reduced capital budget, MTA officials have said, would make it extremely difficult to do anything beyond maintaining the current mass-transit system.

East Side Access and the Second Avenue subway both got a boost this week when the Federal Transit Administration made the two Manhattan mass-transit projects the only ones out of 27 nationwide that it labeled "highly recommended."

"It's a great vote of confidence for this project," Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican who supports East Side Access, said.

The federal agency has proposed spending $390 million on East Side Access in fiscal 2006. Paul Griffo, a spokesman for the agency, told the Sun yesterday that congressional approval was likely.

Ultimately, the federal government is expected to pitch in a total of $2.6 billion for East Side Access, with the MTA financing the remainder. On other projects, Mr. Griffo said, when state money is not available on schedule or projects go over budget, his agency seeks to guide the work back on track.

"We put on the brakes. We'll say, we need to see a plan to get you back on course here," he said. "But the FTA is satisfied that the MTA has demonstrated its ability to fulfill their end."

Today's public hearing is being held at MTA headquarters, 347 Madison Ave. Doors open at 5 p.m.

Assemblyman Bing said the MTA has a history of holding public hearings even though its officials have "already made up their minds."

"But," he said, "we want them to know that the people who live and work in this area really don't think this is a good idea."

The period for written public comment on East Side Access ends on February 22.

URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/8991

[Kris]

February 11, 2005

M.T.A. Vent Is Opposed by Church

By SEWELL CHAN

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/t.gifhe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced its opposition yesterday to a plan to erect a 16-story ventilation facility on a crowded block in Midtown, throwing its influence behind a group of land owners, preservationists, elected officials and local residents who are bitterly fighting the project.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's engineers believe that the proposed facility, on East 50th Street between Madison and Park Avenues, is essential to provide adequate ventilation for new tunnels and a new terminal to be built as part of the planned extension of the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal.

At a hearing last night, the 24 people who testified were unanimous in their opposition. They focused their anger on an environmental assessment, completed last month, which concluded that the building would not have negative effects on land use, traffic, air quality, noise, public safety and the environment.

A lawyer for the archdiocese, Richard G. Leland, said the assessment had "fundamental defects." He said the study did not properly analyze alternatives to the facility, or its effects on traffic, air quality and the historic character of the neighborhood.

Mr. Leland, who has been hired by the archbishop, Cardinal Edward M. Egan, noted that the facility would be a half-block from St. Patrick's Cathedral, at "the heart of Catholic life in New York City." He said the project "poses a serious security risk" and would be "a veritable terrorist target if built."

He said the authority had failed to consider the security risks of housing an 8,000-gallon fuel tank, two emergency generators, cooling towers and an electrical substation in a densely populated business district.

If a terrorist attack involving toxic gases occurred, Mr. Leland said, the facility would emit air onto 50th Street at a rate of 800,000 cubic feet per minute without any way to detect the presence of the toxic gases and shut the facility down.

Among the other nonprofit and civic groups that sent representatives to testify against the project were the Municipal Art Society of New York, the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Yale Club of New York City.

Lawyers for owners of nearby property have already filed a lawsuit to stop the project, and they thronged last night's hearing. But the authority also heard from Bruce A. Silberblatt, 77, who said his neighborhood of Turtle Bay would be inundated with traffic, and Ashley Newton, 41, a waiter who said the noisy construction would scare customers away and ruin his livelihood.

Before the testimony began, an official from the authority attempted to allay the concerns of the project's opponents.

The official, Joseph J. Petrocelli, said the authority already owned and safely operated "dozens of above-ground ventilation buildings located in residential and commercial areas throughout the City of New York." Many other buildings in the East 50th Street area, he said, have loading docks, emergency generators, fuel tanks of equal or greater size and cooling towers on their roofs.

Douglas R. Sussman, the authority's director of community affairs, said the public could continue to comment on the environmental assessment until Feb. 22.

Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[mkeit]

Is this project still alive?

Bids were opened in August for two major contracts-over $ 300 million. I have not heard of any awards. The last contract for the " starter" tunnels seems to have been terminated because the rock was too hard (!!) for the planned method.

[mkeit]

I found a news article on tunnellingonline.com which mentions the Slattery contract-$ 362 million- for the Manhattan tunnels. They list the personnel, so I guess the contract is signed. Again-no mention publicly.

[mkeit]

This is it-

East Side Access
Skanska-Slattery/Traylor Bros./ Judlau S/T/J JV
This $362.3 million project for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will connect the Long Island Railroad Tunnels constructed in the 1970s from Queens to Second Avenue to the Grand Central Terminal in mid-Manhattan. Initially the joint venture will mine two approach tunnels and an erection chamber to assemble the two TBMs.

From the assembly chamber on 63rd Street, two hard rock TBMs (22 ft in diameter) will excavate two single tunnels diagonally from 62nd Street and Second Avenue to Park Avenue, then turn south to 38th Street approximately 7,500 lf. The TBMs will be backed to 59th Street, where two large, high speed bifurcation chambers, 500-ft long, opening to a maximum width of 54-ft will be excavated. The TBMs will be reassembled and then drive two parallel tunnels from the bifurcation to 38th Street.

The excavation of four additional bifurcations will be required, followed by four more TBM tunnels, which will terminate at 43rd Street and Park Avenue. Eight underground chambers, eight starter tunnels, two approach tunnels and 25,000 lf of TBM-mined tunnel will be constructed over a 50-month period.

With no access in Manhattan for men or materials, everything will be transported 9,000 ft from Queens to the worksite. A mega transportation rail system will carry 20,000 cu yds of shotcrete, support material, powder, rock bolts and all other material. Muck from the tunnels and chambers totaling 900,000 cu yds will be transported to Queens in muck cars with diesel locomotives, where it will be transferred to conveyors and carried to Long Island Railroad gondola cars for transport to fill areas on Long Island.
tunnellingonline.com


It suggests that conveyors will span Northern Blvd to carry the spoil to the LIRR yards.

[TonyO]

MTA unveils revamped East Side Access plan

BY CHUCK BENNETT
amNew York STAFF WRITER

December 7, 2005

After a year of pressure from business bigwigs, local pols and even the Catholic Church, the MTA made public Tuesday a substantially redesigned ventilation system for its plan to connect the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal.

Originally, the $6.3-billion project, known as East Side Access, called for a 150-foot-tall ventilation tower on East 50th Street between Madison and Park Avenues. The tower would pump out air from the train tunnels and platforms 155 feet below ground.

But critics said the proposed tower, located a block from St. Patrick's Cathedral and Saks Fifth Avenue, would create a public-health hazard and traffic nightmare.

Critics said the tower would bring in extra delivery and sanitation trucks, as well as produce "visible mist" from close-to-the-ground cooling towers that could carry Legionnaires' disease. They also argued that 8,000 gallons of diesel fuel to power back-up generators was a potential bomb.

The new plan moves the exhaust vents elsewhere and places the cooling towers atop neighboring 300 Park Ave., an office building.

It places the fuel tanks off site, removes the truck-loading dock from East 50th Street, cuts construction time from six to two years, and even provides a small park.

The MTA hopes to have the East Side connection completed by 2012.

"Certainly, the MTA made an effort to address the concerns raised by me and other community residents," said Assemblyman Jonathan Bing (D-Manhattan).
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.

[billyblancoNYC]

This, along with the 3rd rail expansion of the main line and the proposed link to JFK and Downtown would be a real boon for both the city and LI. This might make LI somewhat more attractive for former NYC folks to move to when considering the burbs. Right now, Westchester, Northern NJ and even CT seem to always beat out LI for Manhattan refugees.

[NIMBYkiller]

The 3rd TRACK(3rd rail already exists there) is more for NYC residents who commute TO LI, but it will also make room for more peak direction service too.

JFK-Manhattan is a dead boondoggle and is the biggest waste of an idea I've ever heard of.

LIRR to downtown is not happening for a LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOONNNG time

[TonyO]

NY Daily News
Off the fast track

Rising costs hit LIRR plan for Grand Central

BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The MTA's plan to bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal is getting more and more expensive - and could reach $7.7 billion by the time the digging's done.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the extension, which involves a major expansion of the historic 42nd St. depot, will cost $6.3 billion.

But the authority hasn't revised that figure since December 2003, even though steel and other key materials are more expensive now. Experts say the cost is sure to rise - and even the feds, who are being counted on for much of the funding, have put the price tag at $7.7 billion.

"The longer you wait to build these things, the more they cost," said Jeremy Soffin of the Regional Plan Association. An MTA spokeswoman said the agency is sticking to its figure.

Extending LIRR into Grand Central would shorten commutes for many Long Islanders, supporters say.

But some advocates and experts gripe the so-called East Side Access project has been hampered by waning support from Gov. Pataki, an early booster who in recent years has pushed for a rail link between Kennedy Airport and lower Manhattan.

"Pataki's got to make up his mind," Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign said. "If he keeps asking the feds for billions for both . . . New York will wind up with nothing."

The MTA stalled the launch of the big dig in Manhattan - extending an existing tunnel from Queens to Grand Central and excavating a huge cavern for new platforms beneath the terminal - after Pataki didn't fill its funding request for the 2005-2009 capital plan.

The MTA last year held off awarding tunneling contracts as it waited for voters in November to approve a bond act generating $450 million.

The time lag forced the MTA recently to solicit bids a second time. Contracts now may be awarded this spring.

The shortfall in state support also has made it tougher to get a long-term funding commitment from the feds.

"It's a big problem," veteran MTA board member Barry Feinstein said.

Some advocates are urging the MTA to look at a less expensive alternative that would take greater advantage of tracks and platforms currently at Grand Central. An MTA spokeswoman declined to comment on that possibility.

[mkeit]

It has been so long since anyone has written about this, I couldn't find the thread.

The MTA is keeping a low profile on this now.

The new bids for the Queens Open Cut were opened in April and a contract was awarded a week later. Work began 2 weeks ago with no publicity.

The low bid in 2004 was $ 55 million. The same bidder ( Pile Foundation Construction) was the low bidder this time at $ 83 million

The bids for the Manhattan Tunnel excavation were opened on Tuesday. The low bidder-a large Spanish construction company with very little history in the US came in at $ 427 million. The rejected 2004 low bid was $ 375 million.

[ryan]

All the small retail next to my office on 50th (mad/park) is in the process of closing for this project.

[NYatKNIGHT]

I just merged the last two posts into the existing thread, changed the title, and moved it to this forum. Should be easier to find now.

[americasroof]

Maybe this thread is being covered in a different thread but I couldn't easily find it. The project sure seems to be active including a May 17 hearing with lots of MTA docs:
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/capconstr/esas/ea50.htm
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/capconstr/esas/index.html

It's now budgeted at $6.4 billion and still scheduled for completion in 2012
. If you lost track of this. The LIRR trains would go from Sunnyside Yards across the East River via the 63rd Street tunnel and then down Park Avenue 90 feet below the existing Metro North tracks (170+ feet below Park Avenue!).

No doubt the LIRR is banking on this (noting that 50 percent of its riders say Grand Central rather than Penn Station is closer to work) and that's why they aren't jumping to the new Moynihan Station.

Here's some other articles.

http://www.nysun.com/article/8991
http://www.localexpression.com/esa.html

[NYatKNIGHT]

Thanks for the update.

Not sure why it was hard for you to find, if you used the Search function all the key words are in the title, all transit improvements are in this Guide for New Yorkers forum, and it was already at the top of the page.

[americasroof]

All the small retail next to my office on 50th (mad/park) is in the process of closing for this project.
That's where an air vent is going in (disguised as a regular building).

Nose around the official MTA site, you will find a lot on the project
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/capconstr/esas/index.html

It's amazing that something so big is nearly invisible on the public radar.

Note to NY Knight. I didn't quite understand the heirarchy for placement. It's clear now. Thanks.

[Ed007Toronto]

Rather than head to Grand Central via 63rd, why didn't they just double up the tunnels heading to Penn Station and from there head north into Grand Central? Then you could of had NJ trains going to Grand Central and other new routes. Would have meant less tunnelling in Manhattan.

[Dynamicdezzy]

To my knowledge, any tunnels leading to or from penn station are at full capacity. Plus, the 63rd tunnel is already completed. It uses the same tunnel as the "F" train. There is only a need to extend it to grand central with its own platform and concourse.

[ablarc]

Plus, the 63rd tunnel is already completed. It uses the same tunnel as the "F" train.
Same tunnel --and also same tracks? Will the LIRR trains run on the subway tracks?

[TranspoMan]

Same tunnel --and also same tracks? Will the LIRR trains run on the subway tracks?
The 63rd Street tunnel was built with two levels - the upper level for the subway and the lower level for the LIRR.

[ablarc]

The 63rd Street tunnel was built with two levels - the upper level for the subway and the lower level for the LIRR.
Well, that was foresightful of them. So, what's taking so long to press that other level into use? You'd think they would have finished it all at once.

We need some of that good ol' Chinese derring-do.

[americasroof]

Same tunnel --and also same tracks? Will the LIRR trains run on the subway tracks?
The tunnel has two levels. The LIRR would be on the lower level.

[ablarc]

The tunnel has two levels. The LIRR would be on the lower level.
Don't all answer at the same time. ;)

[americasroof]

Well, that was foresightful of them. So, what's taking so long to press that other level into use? You'd think they would have finished it all at once.

The tunnel through East River was the easy part. Tunneling through Manhattan is another story.

[Scruffy88]

This is all great. What about metro North trains to Penn station via the amtrak tracks and the split in New Rochelle?

[ablarc]

This is all great. What about metro North trains to Penn station via the amtrak tracks and the split in New Rochelle?
Yeah!

Then, all that would be left to complete the picture would be New Jersey Transit to Grand Central. Commuter trains could travel right through Manhattan. A one-seat ride from Princeton to New Haven, from Poughkeepsie to Babylon.

[americasroof]

This is all great. What about metro North trains to Penn station via the amtrak tracks and the split in New Rochelle?
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mta/planning/psas/images/alternativesmap.gif
That's actually being considered.

About half of LIRR's trains would go out of Grand Central (24 of 42 trains/hour at peak). Metro North trains would then be allowed to enter Penn.

In the for what it's worth department Metro North and the LIRR are separate organizations with separate board of directors under the MTA umbrella and there's some incompabilities in their rolling stock! Each year legislation is introduced to combine them and it never goes anywhere -- thanks largely to folks who don't want to see the LIRR name disappear. It's the oldest railroad running under the same name in the country.

[TranspoMan]

Part of the problem might be that the financing for rolling stock on the New Haven Line of Metro-North is controlled by the Connecticut State Department of Transportation (not New York State like on the Harlem and Hudson lines).

[Ed007Toronto]

To my knowledge, any tunnels leading to or from penn station are at full capacity. Plus, the 63rd tunnel is already completed. It uses the same tunnel as the "F" train. There is only a need to extend it to grand central with its own platform and concourse.

I know that the 63rd tunnel is already completed. I meant originally before they built the 63rd tunnel why did they decide to go with the north route rather than one to the south that could have also allowed a direct route between Penn and Grand Central.

[TomAuch]

Part of the problem might be that the financing for rolling stock on the New Haven Line of Metro-North is controlled by the Connecticut State Department of Transportation (not New York State like on the Harlem and Hudson lines).

WOnder how they could get the Harlem Line over to Penn Station?

[tmg]

WOnder how they could get the Harlem Line over to Penn Station?

The Initial Screening Results Report (http://www.mta.info/mta/planning/psas/pdf/initial_screen_results.pdf) considered several ways to do this, but ultimately rejected them because they could not be accomplished without additional capital investment. Aside from the optional cost of building new stations, running the Hudson and New Haven lines to Penn will have minimal cost (once East Side Access is complete).

[pianoman11686]

June 15, 2006

City Is Asked to Rethink Rail Stations Deep Underground

By THOMAS J. LUECK

Warning that new rail stations planned for as deep as 15 stories under Manhattan could be targets of terror, five transit riders' groups from New York and New Jersey have asked the city to reconsider the risk of building them.

In a letter dated May 2 to New York City's senior police, fire and emergency management officials, the riders' groups asserted that "deep caverns" are poorly suited to Manhattan in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center.

"In this age of concern about terrorism," the groups' said in the letter, "we respectfully request that you do a careful risk assessment of these deep cavern stations."

The projects include New Jersey Transit's proposal for new Hudson River tunnels and a rail station as deep as 100 feet below Macy's on 34th Street, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's long-planned $7.7 billion East Side Access project, which would link the Long Island Rail Road to a station 150 feet beneath Grand Central Terminal.

"As many as 8,000 passengers could be trapped in these terminals in the event of an emergency," the groups assert in the letter.

The letter was made available by the riders' groups after they obtained a copy of a June 7 response, sent by the police to Peter S. Kalikow, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The transit advocates said they felt slighted after reading the police letter, signed by Lowell L. Stahl, assistant chief commanding officer, in which he asked that Mr. Kalikow take "any action you deem appropriate" in response to the groups' warning. The transit groups had sent their letter to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.

The Police Department's chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said in an interview this week that the department had long been aware of the security concerns surrounding deep rail stations, particularly the one planned under Grand Central, where passengers would descend more than a dozen stories on 16 high-speed escalators.

"The counterterrorism bureau has looked at the project," he said, but declined to elaborate. "It does not discuss questions of vulnerability."

The five transit groups, which also sent a copy of the letter to the Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, are the Straphangers Campaign, the Empire State Passengers Association, the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility in New York, the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers and the Lackawanna Coalition in New Jersey.

They said that none of the New York officials or agencies had responded directly to their letter, nor had anyone on Mr. Chertoff's staff.

Transit officials and engineers maintain that the new stations must be placed deep underground to avoid the layers of utilities, foundations and other rail lines already extending deep under Manhattan.

They also point out that deep rail platforms are nothing new to New York and other cities. In Manhattan, examples include the A line's station at 190th Street, where some passengers take an elevator 210 feet between the station and Fort Washington Avenue; others leave the station by walking through a tunnel to Bennett Avenue. And at Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street on the F line, escalators take riders 140 feet down to the station. But those stations were "built before 9/11, and the world has changed," said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign.

His group has long advocated the East Side Access project as critical to the city's mass transit system, and "we still support the concept," Mr. Russianoff said. But he said the group is not convinced that potential difficulties in access and emergency evacuation have received enough attention. "I have an open mind," Mr. Russianoff said, "but I just don't want people to be subjected to unsafe conditions."

George Haikalis, president of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility and a longtime critic of the deep rail projects, has been advocating an alternative method of getting the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central on tracks under Park Avenue owned by Metro-North Railroad.

Mr. Haikalis said the stations being planned deep underground would be too expensive, and dangerous. "These are inviting targets because they are so far down and enclosed," he said.

Security concerns over the East Side Access project have not escaped the attention of the Fire Department. But the project, which Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg staunchly supports, has not been publicly questioned or criticized by fire officials.

In May, WNYC radio reported on a rift in 2003 between the transportation authority and fire officials over access to the planned station and passageways under Grand Central. It obtained correspondence between the authority and a fire official through the Freedom of Information Law.

In one letter, according to the WNYC report, Capt. Robert Weinman of the Fire Department wrote to an official at the authority, "You must take into account" the "experience and expertise of the Fire Department that you will be calling upon to protect your passengers, employees, property and equipment in the event of an incident."

The disagreement has been resolved, though neither the authority nor fire officials are willing to discuss details.

In an interview this week, Francis X. Gribbon, the Fire Department's chief spokesman, said "we were given what we asked for."

"It involved access points and things like that," he said, declining to be more specific. "They had their ideas, and we had ours, but they satisfied the concerns we raised."

Timothy O'Brien, a spokesman for the transportation authority, said it was in close contact with police and fire officials about many security issues.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[ablarc]

The terrorists are vital participants in New York's transportation planning.

[BPC]

The terrorists are vital participants in New York's transportation planning.

They've already entered architecture and urban planning. Why shouldn't they enter transportation planning as well? We should also scour our public school curriculums to make sure there is nothing in the school books that might upset the terrorists. If we do everything right, then New York City will never be a terrorist target again.

[lofter1]

We should also scour our public school curriculums to make sure there is nothing in the school books that might upset the terrorists. If we do everything right, then New York City will never be a terrorist target again.
don't forget our cultural facilities ...

[BigMac]

AM New York
June 16, 2006

Grand Central LIRR terminal to go ahead

BY HERBERT LOWE
Newsday Staff Writer

Plans for a new Long Island Rail Road station at Grand Central Terminal are moving ahead despite claims by some rider groups that the threat of terrorism is being ignored, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said Thursday.

"I have full confidence that the security concerns of everyone have been reviewed as part of the design for East Side Access, and I don't see any reason at the moment to make any changes," said Mitchell Pally, the Suffolk County representative on the MTA board of directors.

The authority's $7.7 billion East Side Access project, due to be completed in 2013, would link the LIRR to a station 150 feet beneath Grand Central Terminal.

In recent weeks, advocacy groups have complained to New York City police, fire and emergency management officials that, in the post-9/11 era, it is irresponsible to build a new station 15 stories below street level.

"As many as 8,000 passengers could be trapped in these terminals in the event of an emergency," the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, Empire State Passengers Association, Lackawanna Coalition, Straphangers Campaign and Institute for Rational Urban Mobility wrote in a joint letter sent to various officials.

George Haikalis, president of the institute, has long championed an alternative plan for the new terminal: getting the LIRR trains to Grand Central on existing tracks under Park Avenue owned by Metro-North Railroad. Those tracks are only 20 feet below street level, Haikalis said.

"In this age of terrorism, why put people in these caverns?" he said.

MTA officials say they have studied Haikalis' idea and concluded that, if implemented, it would impede Metro-North's ability to function in the terminal along with the LIRR. The officials also say they don't have any choice but to build the stations so deep underground.

"This is the only way we could build this project because of the existing utility lines and commuter rail and subway tunnels," said Timothy O'Brien, a spokesman for the authority. "We have to go underneath them. That's what dictates the depths."

O'Brien also said several subway stations across the city and in other major cities, including London and Madrid, are at least 150 feet below street level.

Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said the department's counterterrorism bureau has reviewed the East Side Access project. Browne declined to discuss the matter, saying the department does not comment publicly on potential vulnerabilities of such projects.

Copyright 2006 AM New York

[TonyO]

NY1


MTA Awards Contract For East Side Access Tunnel

July 13, 2006

The East Side Access project is slowly becoming a reality: A Spanish firm has been awarded a huge contract to build a tunnel underneath Park Avenue to allow Long Island Rail Road trains access to Grand Central Terminal.

The LIRR will be linked to an existing subway tunnel at 63rd Street, but a new tunnel must be built from the Manhattan end of that tunnel and Second Avenue, over to Park Avenue and down to Grand Central.

"It’s very important for 75,000 people who now commute into Manhattan from the suburbs and they end up on the west side of Manhattan at Penn Station and this will bring them into Grand Central, where many of them have their work,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.

This will be a joint venture between a company in College Point, Queens, and the one in Spain. The $430 million contract amount is less than expected because the Spanish firm already has the necessary tunneling machinery.

The MTA hopes to have the project completed by 2013.

[kliq6]

dont bet on 2013 if the MTA is running the show, they take four years to rehab a subway station

[pianoman11686]

http://www.3d-win.com

Renderings by DMJM + Harris

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/gal_java/46$3$08L.jpg

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/gal_java/45$3$07L.jpg

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/gal_java/44$3$06L.jpg

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/gal_java/43$3$05L.jpg

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/gal_java/42$3$04L.jpg

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/gal_java/41$3$03L.jpg

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/gal_java/40$3$02L.jpg

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/gal_java/39$3$01L.jpg

The 50th Street ventilation building:

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/exteriorP/103$3$08L.jpg

http://www.3d-win.com/web/bbs/data/exteriorP/102$3$07L.jpg

[TonyO]

snazzy.

[ablarc]

Looks suspiciously like the present Penn Station.

[Deimos]

Looks suspiciously like the present Penn Station.
I disagree... it looks like the pedestrian walkways are designed to make sense. The current Penn Station is so poorly organized it would be better to say its just a collection of walkways that happen to meet up with some train tracks (with the exception of the Amtrak section, I like that train station).

My fear with this project is that the LIRR section of the station will feel like a different station from the Metro-North section. This would make it exactly like Penn where NJ Transit, LIRR and Amtrak are basically 3 separate stations sharing the same 32 tracks (or whatever the number is). I realize that there will be a degree of disconnect from the two stations due to the space between them, but in a perfect world, tracks 201-208 will simply feel like another sublevel like tracks 101-117.

[MikeW]

Actually the reworking of the LIRR concourse was a major improvement to Penn Station. If you used the LIRR, it made things much more efficient. It also made it more pleasent (or at least less unpleasent). Penn Station was a major dump before the renovation.


I disagree... it looks like the pedestrian walkways are designed to make sense. The current Penn Station is so poorly organized it would be better to say its just a collection of walkways that happen to meet up with some train tracks (with the exception of the Amtrak section, I like that train station).

My fear with this project is that the LIRR section of the station will feel like a different station from the Metro-North section. This would make it exactly like Penn where NJ Transit, LIRR and Amtrak are basically 3 separate stations sharing the same 32 tracks (or whatever the number is). I realize that there will be a degree of disconnect from the two stations due to the space between them, but in a perfect world, tracks 201-208 will simply feel like another sublevel like tracks 101-117.

[ablarc]

As I said...

[ryan]

Looks suspiciously like the present Penn Station.
I'll agree, but the terrazzo looks much shiny-er.

The ventilation building replaces my favorite deli, but I won't mind having a park next door... if I keep the same job for 20 years.

[TonyO]

10/18/06
NY Daily News

Feds OK $2.65B for LIRR ride to the East Side

The last big hurdle in extending the Long Island Rail Road to the East Side was cleared yesterday when the Bush administration approved a $2.65 billion grant for the project.
"It's a great day for New York. This deal is done," said Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.). "This guarantees the project will be done."

The Federal Transit Administration sent its funding proposal yesterday to Congress for approval after a 60-day review. King said he didn't anticipate any snags because transportation committees in both houses have endorsed the plan.

"I look forward to the signing of the final full-funding grant agreement and the benefits it will bring to our region," Gov. Pataki said.

The federal dollars represent about 40% of the $6.3 billion needed for the project. The remainder of the funds will come from local and state sources, and through the selling of bonds.

The so-called East Side Access project will bring LIRR commuters into Grand Central Terminal. The project also includes a new commuter rail station in Sunnyside, Queens.

The project is expected to be completed by 2013, and will serve up to 180,000 riders daily.

"East Side Access is a vital project for the future viability of our region's economy, and I look forward to signing the full-funding agreement by the end of this year," MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow said.


Bill Hutchinson

[Eugenious]

dont bet on 2013 if the MTA is running the show, they take four years to rehab a subway station

They have been installing the escalators and elevators at 34th st Herald Sq station for what seems to be an eternity. Are there not enough contractors in the city to do the job?

[lofter1]

it seems that elevators throught the MTA system are a joke -- they had to be installed to meet the Disabilities Act, but maintenance by MTA is seemingly zero on elevators, which makes like all that more difficult for handicapped / wheelchair bound citizens :mad: .

[ramvid01]

There's a lot of work already being done at the Sunnyside Yards that i believe has to do with this project. I believe i counted about 8 cranes on the site doing some kind of work.

[Strattonport]

As part of this connection, a LIRR station is to be constructed in Sunnyside. I would like to see a truly intermodal complex be linked up with the nearby subway and bus lines.

[TonyO]

NY Observer

Beneath Their Stations
While Connecticut snobs bask in Grand Central’s marble glow, New Jersey and Long Island commuters have to brave dingy Penn Station. But, as SARA VILKOMERSON reports, this delicate caste system may be facing a rail revolution.

By: Sara Vilkomerson
Date: 11/6/2006
Page: 17


During a recent and rainy rush hour at Penn Station, dripping umbrellas and dirt tracked in from squeaky sneakers and soggy loafers added to the standard feeling of despair among New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road commuters trying to get home. The air was thick and humid with anxiety, and it smelled like a combination of wet hair, hot dogs and defeat.

“There’s a low-ceiling alienation to the place,” said New York Times writer David Carr, who regularly takes the New Jersey Transit Midtown Direct line from his home in Montclair, N.J. “I alternate between the bus, train and driving. It’s good to mix up the commute, otherwise you end up feeling like killing yourself.”

Meanwhile, across town at the cathedral-like Grand Central Terminal, Metro-North crowds moved easily beneath the aquamarine astronomical ceiling, so high and domed that whether through acoustics or sheer grandeur, all sounds below took on a civilized hush.

“Each station serves as a portal of your New York experience and sort of defines you,” Mr. Carr said. “You walk into Grand Central and you hear Wagner and Beethoven, and you feel part of the great human endeavor. You walk into Penn and you hear Psychedelic Furs or the Cure.”

The chasm between rail-rider identities is already a natural caste system deriving from where one commutes from: scrappy/trashy New Jersey and Long Island versus WASP-y old-money Connecticut. John Updike as opposed to Bon Jovi, Peyton Place compared to The Sopranos, Kenneth Cole against The Tiecoon, and so on.

The stations signal to commuters how New York feels about them. Connecticut and Westchester riders step off their trains to be greeted by the majesty of the Grand Central main concourse: the opal clock atop the information booth (estimated worth: $10 million to $20 million), sculptures of Minerva, Hercules and Mercury, gourmet coffee, bread and cheese. New Jersey and Long Islands riders expect to fight their way up broken escalators to begin a salmon-like upstream battle beneath fluorescent lights. The take-no-prisoner crowds swell against narrow passageways, pushing past the Auntie Anne’s pretzel carts and the ready-made Pizza Hut personal pies, considering entrance to one of the more terrifying bathrooms in Manhattan. Grand Central has a large and dignified American flag hanging from the ceiling since 9/11; Penn Station, judging from the number of armed soldiers, seems to be housing an Army barracks.

It’s no surprise that the East Side Access project, which proposes to bring the LIRR into Grand Central via an eight-track tunnel 140 feet below Park Avenue, has been greeted with some resistance. The LIRR usually dumps its Syosset-bred legions into the grimy underground of Penn Station. If the project, estimated at last count at $6.3 billion, were to go forward, Ralph Lauren–clad riders would have to mix with Juicy Couture tracksuits and cell phones that boast Bubba Sparxxx ringtones.

“The entire point of living in Connecticut or Westchester is to limit your exposure to people who are from Long Island and New Jersey,” said one magazine editor who has been commuting from Westport, Conn., through Grand Central for over a decade. “That’s why we live there, it’s why we wear natural fabrics, and it’s why we don’t stucco our homes. Granted, there are a lot of people in Westport and Darien who grew up on the island and vowed to end all the ridicule by buying a first home here, but these are the people who wear Nicole Miller and practically strive out loud. As far as we’re concerned, Long Island might as well be Barbados—fine for a vacation, but year-round is so not going to happen.”

“Oh yeah, they totally don’t want them there,” said Shane Hoffman, a Manhattan acupuncturist who experiences all three train rides visiting friends and family. “The LIRR is the most entertaining of the three, because of the Long Island yahoo people—it’s delicious! It’s such an amazing opportunity to see the styles from the era of Fame, plus there’s a nice sampling of construction workers going out for the night—totally different than the Metro-North people going to Greenwich or the strange smart people heading to New Haven, recognizable by their heavy books.”

Mini-factions have broken from these two warring commuter-groups. Many Garden State travelers heading through Penn Station are happy to be losing their Long Island brethren. Joni Noe, a 32-year-old photo editor and regular New Jersey Transit rider, said: “I’m not jealous about the LIRR going through Grand Central, if it means that those commuters won’t be going through Penn Station. Would that mean we won’t have to deal with as many New York Islander fans?”

Certainly there is something undeniably New York represented by both stations. Grand Central embodies the gilded glamour of a Truman Capote story: the whiff of promise of Fifth Avenue shops right outside its doors, Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, express subways that whisk the cashmere-coated straight to the Upper East Side. Penn Station carries with it the air of hard work, sweat and trying to make ends meet. The surrounding streets of Penn are filled with the industries of immigrants—the garment and fur districts.

“Grand Central has architecture and heft and scope and white marble and Kennedys backing the restoration. Penn Station has jerry-rigged plywood sheets with orange graffiti arrows,” the magazine editor from Westport continued. “In Grand Central, tourists gather in groups and point to the famous little spot on the ceiling they left intact—the one that shows how dirty the main waiting room was before the restoration. At Penn Station, people who point at the ceiling are remarking over how that pigeon managed to get in. Grand Central has a PBS feel about it. Penn Station is the WB.”



BUT FORGETTING, FOR A MOMENT, THE BIG-PICTURE differences of the stations, one need only look at the dining options available to both sets of commuters. Penn Station has T.G.I. Friday’s, Houlihan’s and every fast-food option available, in miniature.

“Aesthetics and claustrophobic symptoms aside, Grand Central is on its own plane, with nicer restaurants and shops,” said Ms. Noe. “They don’t have the lowbrow spots like Krispy Kreme, do they?” (Answer: no.)

Grand Central, in addition to fine dining restaurants like the Oyster Bar, Cipriani Dolci and Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse, boasts a “dining course” level below the main waiting area that puts any ordinary food court to shame: Masa Sushi, Junior’s, Café Spice and Mendy’s Kosher Deli. On a weekday lunch hour, nattily dressed workers descend upon the area, iPods in and heads bowed over The Times and the Post. There’s even a specialty market where commuters can stop by a butcher and pick up Godiva chocolates or Murray’s cheese on their way home.

“You just can’t buy nice olive oil in Penn Station,” said Mr. Hoffman.

Then there’s the little matter of how each station treats its passengers when it comes to the actual boarding of trains. At Grand Central, the track numbers are announced up to half an hour before the departure time, allowing riders to leisurely decide when to get on the train and find a seat. At Penn Station, there is a palpable anxiety as crowds gather around the large board of departures, or the tiny television monitors. Somewhere between seven and 10 minutes before departure, a track will be posted and a running of the commuters commences, a Lord of the Flies–like flurry to get down the escalator and into a seat.

“I used to run track, and it’s like a starter pistol going off,” said Cristina Tapper, an editorial assistant at People magazine who attended the New Jersey Transit–reachable Rutgers College but now commutes daily on Metro-North from Mount Vernon. “That clamor is the major difference that sticks out in my head. I just remember having to run for a seat at Penn Station.”

“As far as the rush-hour situation, here’s a true story, “ said Anne Gregory, a petite blonde who teaches physical education on the Upper East Side. “I once saw a guy who was practically body-checking his fellow riders when the track number was announced, only to be stopped when he heard a young voice yell, ‘Dad!’ In the insanity of trying to get to the escalator, he let go of his daughter’s hand and started tearing ass. She couldn’t have been older than 9.”

“Oh, it’s a total cluster-****,” said Mr. Hoffman. “If you get called to a track without an escalator, you’ll always end up behind the people with the luggage struggling down the stairs. Then it becomes about waiting: ‘Is that old guy going to be pushed down?’ It’s insane. I think the New Jersey Transit people are more respectful. The LIRR people’s exploding point seems to be much lower.”

Penn’s animals-in-a-cage feeling has a lot to do with the absence of seating. Grand Central riders have benches available to them, plus all the seats in the dining-concourse level. At Penn, it’s not uncommon to see business men in three-piece suits squatting on their briefcase. “Essentially, both places are staging areas for getting a seat,” said the Westport commuter. “I always get a great seat at Grand Central, which makes it a successful building. Never, ever in my entire life has my ass been happy at Penn Station.”

The original Penn Station, a glorious Beaux-Arts structure in pink granite and glass, was famously demolished (to great public horror) to make way for a multimillion-dollar sports complex in 1963. This memory of beauty on the West Side haunts the aesthetically afflicted Jersey natives. “One entered the city like a god, one scuttles in now like a rat,” wrote the architectural historian Vincent Scully. The powers-that-be at Penn Station have tried to make amends to their customers. There was a restoration of the New Jersey Transit waiting area in the late 1990’s to remove some of the grime. The area features a four-sided clock from the original station. But it hasn’t helped much, and most commuters don’t even use it, choosing to stick by the big board with its seemingly random changing of numbers. You never know when yours will come up.

“There’s just … there’s this sag in front of the board, where you look at your now fellow inmates, trapped on this island off the coast of America with no or little way home,” Mr. Carr continued. “There’s a collective sadness that drops over the place.”

But there’s also hope. In 1998, the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan started an official movement to create a new Penn Station across the street in the Farley Post Office Building. Drawings of the proposed building show an airy main room and glass ceilings. The project has become a bit of a political hot potato and is currently in limbo.

“I’m hoping I’m still gainfully employed long enough to experience it,” said Mr. Carr. “The fact that it didn’t happen yet is a significant failure of leadership—the fact that we have to re-engineer one of the worst ideas that ever was in the first place. I don’t care if it takes a long time and gobs and gobs of money. When it comes to bridge and tunnel, we should all be treated equally.”

copyright © 2006 the new york observer, llc | all rights reserved

[tmg]

Trash journalism, based on nothing but stereotypes. The Observer should be embarrassed by itself.

The Onion could have done a much better job with this article idea.

[Eugenious]

Trash journalism, based on nothing but stereotypes. The Observer should be embarrassed by itself.

The Onion could have done a much better job with this article idea.

But it's true.

[pianoman11686]

It befuddles me that a structure so renowned for its opulence - Grand Central - is also so much more successful in fulfilling its function. At the same time, the labyrinthian Penn Station is nowhere near deserving of aesthetic appreciation, yet it's an unquestionable failure as a structure that was built in the era of Modernism, where it was assumed we'd gain function by eliminating opulence. What went wrong in the planning?

[Fahzee]

NY Observer

....“You just can’t buy nice olive oil in Penn Station,” said Mr. Hoffman.



This should be the new rallying cry for the Moynihan Station.

[MikeW]

I don't buy you premise, or at least the second half. Yes, GCS is much more aesthetically pleasing. But I don't agree that it is any more efficient or effective as a transportation hub. If you look at simply the act of moving the mass of commuters on and of the trains, and onto connecting subways, they two stations do a pretty equal job of it. GCS just provides a better ambience to do it in.


It befuddles me that a structure so renowned for its opulence - Grand Central - is also so much more successful in fulfilling its function. At the same time, the labyrinthian Penn Station is nowhere near deserving of aesthetic appreciation, yet it's an unquestionable failure as a structure that was built in the era of Modernism, where it was assumed we'd gain function by eliminating opulence. What went wrong in the planning?

[pianoman11686]

Have you ever taken a train from Penn Station? Or, God forbid, had to transfer from a train to a subway? It's hell trying to find your way through all the different corridors.

My point is fairly simple: Grand Central has one, centralized area for passengers, with tracks surrounding it on all sides, and departure information laid out efficiently. Penn is a maze, on the other hand. It takes much longer to get from your train to the street, or to another subway, depending on where you are.

Doesn't it sound illogical that a station whose promoters sought to achieve efficiency by tearing down something ornate, and outdated, is woefully inadequate at fulfilling its function? And that's it's outdone by something much older, and much more opulent?

[lofter1]

The transfer from "real" trains to the subway in GCT is no picnic either ...

[ramvid01]

I guess the easiness you talk about pianoman has to do with the fact that GCP has a main hall with windows, and if truely lost you can go outside (but then again I don't find GCP too hard to navigate, but I don't know Penn that well). Penn Station suffers more from lack of light then anything, I don't think being underground with no access to natural light helps, probably has some kind of psychological explanation.

[ablarc]

I don't think being underground with no access to natural light helps, probably has some kind of psychological explanation.
Turns us into Morlocks. You can read all about it in The Time Machine.

[lofter1]

And when a morlock (http://www.giantsandgirls.com/beyond2.html) goes after Yviette Mimieux (http://www.2neatmagazines.com/covers/1960cover/1960-May-9.jpg) -- that's scarrier than the dark recesses of Penn Station ...

http://www.giantsandgirls.com/images/beyond/timemach4.jpg

[TonyO]

NY Times
December 16, 2006

Spitzer Names Port Authority Head and Fills 11 Other Top Positions

By PATRICK HEALY and WILLIAM NEUMAN
Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer’s choice to lead the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said yesterday that the Spitzer team would take a “fresh look” at the Freedom Tower project at ground zero.

Mr. Spitzer cautioned that it was premature to say whether plans would change, but the new Port Authority leader, Anthony E. Shorris, said there was little flexibility to make a major overhaul.

The comments came at a news conference where Mr. Spitzer named Mr. Shorris to be executive director of the Port Authority and also tapped 11 others for top jobs in his administration. Half of the appointees are current or former members of Mr. Spitzer’s staff in the attorney general’s office, and others, like Mr. Shorris and Priscilla Almodovar — his choice to be president of the state housing finance agency — have been advisers to the governor-elect.

Mr. Spitzer’s selection of so many people close to him came despite promises made during the campaign that he would look broadly for the best possible talent. He said yesterday that he would make a wide search to fill other top jobs.

Mr. Shorris’s remarks about a top-to-bottom review of the Freedom Tower reflected private comments made recently by some Spitzer advisers. They have vowed to examine everything from the project’s cost and leasing viability to its height, which Gov. George E. Pataki helped set at 1,776 feet.

Both the Port Authority, which owns the World Trade Center site, and the state have many other significant infrastructure needs, from the Second Avenue subway to the rebuilding or replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge. And Mr. Spitzer is on record, as a candidate last spring, as saying the Freedom Tower could become “a white elephant” because it seemed to lack “economic viability.”

“We’ll be looking at every aspect of it, both the plan and the execution of it, we’ll take a fresh look at the whole thing,” Mr. Shorris said yesterday. “But I also think the No. 1 priority of the governor is to get ground zero moving. The last thing that any of us wants to see is a slowing down of the progress.”

He added that at this stage, with work already begun for the tower, there was “very limited” opportunity to rethink the project, especially with many New Yorkers impatient for action at the site.

Mr. Shorris was a top aide at the Port Authority from 1990 to 1995, and was deputy schools chancellor in New York from 2001 to 2003. He left the schools job soon after it became known that he held a second high-paying job as a consultant for then-Local 1199’s National Benefit Fund, with his supervisor’s approval.

Mr. Spitzer also appointed Elliot G. Sander as the executive director and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He signaled that Mr. Sander might also replace Peter S. Kalikow, the powerful chairman backed by Governor Pataki, once Mr. Kalikow steps down.

Mr. Kalikow has created tension with the Spitzer camp by saying he will not resign until federal financing is in place for both the Second Avenue subway and a Long Island Rail Road link to Grand Central Terminal, which is likely to occur in the first six months of next year. But Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Sander made clear that Mr. Sander will have effective control of the agency even with Mr. Kalikow still in place.

Mr. Sander is a senior vice president at DMJM Harris, an engineering firm with millions of dollars of contracts with the transportation authority. He is also a former city transportation commissioner.

As he had during his campaign, Mr. Spitzer characterized the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as an agency that “needs a management shake-up,” and indicated once again that it would “make sense” to combine the powers of the transportation authority chairman and executive director.

He added that he needed to work with the Legislature to accomplish that.

But Mr. Sander stressed continuity in at least one area, saying he planned to move ahead with the list of ambitious projects already under way at the agency, including the Second Avenue subway, the Long Island Rail Road link to Grand Central and the westward extension of the No. 7 subway line to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

Mr. Sander will have to deal with immense deficits projected for the agency. He said that while there would be no fare increase next year, one was possible in 2008.

He said one of his first acts would be to evaluate the transportation authority’s security program, including its antiterrorism efforts.

[BigMac]

NY1
December 18, 2006

East Side Access Project Gets Funding Boost From Feds

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/images/live/109/216451.jpg

A long-awaited project to give Long Island Raid Road commuters easier access to Manhattan's East Side got a big boost from the federal government this morning.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was at Grand Central today with Governor George Pataki to sign what is known as a Full Funding Grant Agreement, giving the MTA a guarantee of $2.6 billion in federal transit funding over the next seven years to be used to help fund the East Side Access project, which will connect the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal.

Under the proposal, the LIRR will be linked to the existing 63rd Street subway tunnel to cross the East River. Then a new tunnel would be built from the Manhattan end of that tunnel to connect to the Park Avenue tunnels down to Grand Central. It would also create a new terminal space at Grand Central.

The deal is being called the single largest transit investment in American history. The addition would shave 40 minutes off the daily commute of Long Island commuters, and it would cut cross-town congestion from Grand Central to Penn Station.

"This project – underway right now – it is going to open up Grand Central and the east side to tens of thousands of commuters from Long Island, commuters who currently take the train into Penn Station and then have to get back to the Grand Central area," said Governor Pataki.

"At 150 feet deep, we are going to carve out a brand new terminal under this existing terminal. That's not like doing an addition on a house; this is a big project," said FTA Administrator James Simpson.

The federal money virtually guarantees that the project gets completed. The full construction cost is just over $6 billion. The rest of the project will be funded through the MTA's Capital Program. Initial construction has already started. It's scheduled to be finished by 2013.
Copyright © 2006 NY1 News

[antinimby]

The best news of the day!

Washington's money is the best money to get. :)

[TonyO]

Yes, the funding is great news.

I'm interested in how this will change the face of the city in the long term. Manhattan already is weighted heavily with people and buildings on the east side in midtown with the proximity of Grand Central. As the article points out, east side access will ease crosstown traffic somewhat, but will it spur more development on the east side? The west side will happen but will not have the LI/Westchester/CT commuters central to its taking shape. Moynihan station, rail yards rezoning/development, and the new ACR rail tunnel will draw mass to the area and be easy commuting for NJers but without a direct connection with commuter rail from the North and East this won't be as demand driven as midtown-east. Thoughts?

[noik53]

As far as I remember, the plan is to move some of the LIRR Trains to GCT, by doing this it will allow Metro North to enter Penn Station via Hell's gate Bridge. This change may actually provide more jobs for the Westside because now it has a more diverse option to its employment, making that area more desirable for companies.

[Kris]

December 19, 2006
Long Planned, Transit Projects Get U.S. Help
By WILLIAM NEUMAN

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/12/19/nyregion/600_transit_1.jpg
The staging area near Northern Boulevard in Queens for the work on a link that would allow some Long Island Rail Road trains to go to Grand Central Terminal.

Video (http://nytimes.feedroom.com/?fr_story=e779f47b833d871d7f1f86a7af77df10b3b0ee9a )

After decades of planning and dreaming by officials, two major expansions of the city’s mass transit system took important steps forward yesterday, with the federal government promising to pay billions of dollars for a Long Island Rail Road connection to Grand Central Terminal and for a Second Avenue subway.

Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said final approval had been granted to allow $2.6 billion in federal funds to be spent on construction of the Long Island Rail Road link, which will give commuters on the railroad a direct ride to the east side of Manhattan. Speaking at a news conference in the main hall of Grand Central, she said it was the most money the federal government had ever committed to a mass transit project.

She said her department had also approved $693 million for the new subway on Second Avenue. In both cases, the federal money is only a portion of the total costs.

Work in Queens on the Long Island Rail Road project has already begun, and the Second Avenue work is to begin next year. Both projects are to be finished in 2013, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

The Long Island Rail Road project, known as East Side Access, will create a new spur from the railroad’s main line at Sunnyside that will terminate at Grand Central. In the future passengers will be able to choose between trains that go either to Grand Central or to Pennsylvania Station.

The project involves digging new tunnels in Manhattan and Queens that would connect to an existing rail tunnel under the East River, at 63rd Street. In Queens the tunnels would link up with the Long Island Rail Road tracks. Beneath Manhattan, the tunnels would head across town, turn south at Park Avenue and end about 150 feet below Grand Central, at a vast new underground concourse carved out of the rock.

Currently, the only Manhattan stop for the Long Island Rail Road is at Pennsylvania Station, on the West Side, though the railroad estimates that about half the 106,000 riders who arrive at Penn Station each morning are actually headed to the East Side. The new terminal would cut those riders’ daily commute by a total of about 40 minutes, officials said.

Officials say the East Side Access will also increase service and ease crowding on the Long Island Rail Road. By lowering the railroad’s use of tracks at Pennsylvania Station, it would reduce backups for other Long Island riders and also for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit commuters who use the station.

Planning for an East Side stop dates back at least to the mid-1960s. The 63rd Street tunnel under the East River was completed in the mid-1970s, but by then the city’s fiscal crisis had interrupted expansion plans. The double-decker tunnel has an upper set of tracks for subway trains — the F train currently uses them. A lower set of tracks in the tunnel were intended for the Long Island Rail Road but have never been used.

Plans for a subway line on Second Avenue go back even further. The transportation authority plans to build the subway in stages, with the first section running from 96th Street to 63rd Street, where it will connect with the existing tracks for the N, R and W lines.

Gaining federal funding of this magnitude is a lengthy process, often accompanied at incremental stages by announcements by eager public officials. But in the case of the Long Island rail project, yesterday’s event, at which Ms. Peters and Gov. George E. Pataki signed a ceremonial letter of agreement, was the final approval.

Known as a full funding grant agreement, it reflects a commitment by the federal government to pay a specific amount, in installments, over the life of the project.

In contrast, the Second Avenue subway project is said to be some months short of such a binding commitment. In saying that her department had approved $693 million for the subway, Ms. Peters meant that she would ask Congress to appropriate that amount as a kind of down payment, so that work can begin.

Ultimately, the federal government expects to invest a total of $1.3 billion in the subway project. James S. Simpson, the administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, said his agency was confident that final approval for the full amount would come through.

The Long Island rail connector has a total budget of $6.3 billion. A majority of the $3.7 billion not supplied by the federal government will be raised through the sale of bonds by the authority and the state.

The Second Avenue project has an estimated cost of $3.8 billion. There, too, most of the $2.5 billion not covered by federal funds will be raised through borrowing.

Yesterday’s event drew a gaggle of politicians and transportation officials.

Peter S. Kalikow, the chairman of the transportation authority, called it “an event that started in 1968,” a reference to the early days of planning for the Long Island Rail Road connection.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[antinimby]

Progress on major Manhattan transit projects

19-DEC-06


http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1166566467_eastsideacc1.jpg


The U. S. Department of Transportation yesterday approved $2.6 billion in funding for the East Side Access project that would create a rail link to Grand Central Terminal for Long Island Rail Road trains coming from Queens.

The allocation represents about 40 percent of the funds required for the project and the remainder are expected to come from the selling of local and state bonds.

The link would use the 63rd Street rail tunnel and is expected to significantly reduce commuting time for Long Island commuters who work on the East Side of Manhattan and now arrive at Penn Station on the West Side. At the same time, the link, which is expected to be competed in 2013, would reduce congestion at Penn Station.

The Long Island Rail Road estimates that about half of about 106,000 weekday riders who arrive at Penn Station in the morning are headed for the East Side.

The link should also raise some property values around the areas serviced by the train line and reduce crosstown congestion somewhat in midtown Manhattan.

The new train link will be accessed by a new “terminal” about 150 feet below ground at Grand Central Terminal and connect with a new commuter rail station in Sunnyside, Queens, that will have a spur to the railroad’s main line.

Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters also announced that her department will commit $693 million to begin work on the Second Avenue subway in Manhattan.

At a press conference at Grand Central Terminal announcing the transit grants, U. S. Senator Charles Schumer said that in the new Congressional term $2 billion of the $20 billion of tax creditors earmarked for Lower Manhattan after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks would be allocated for creating a rail connection between Lower Manhattan and the JFK Airport.

Such an allocation was rejected by Congress last year, but at the news conference Governor Pataki said he was “confident that we’ll get additional federal help so that the train to the plane form Lower Manhattan to JFK can become a reality.”

The 63rd Street Tunnel was completed in the 1970s and has an upper set of tracks now used by the F subway train and a lower set of tracks that Long Island Rail Road trains.

At one point, plans were considered to connect Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station by rail, but while such a scheme would be the most beneficial in terms of transportation it would also be extremely expensive to implement.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg also announced Monday that the city will soon be breaking ground on an extension to the number seven subway line from its current end point at Times Square to a new terminal at 34th Street and 11th Avenue.

Copyright © 1994-2006 CITY REALTY.COM INC.

[clubBR]

Bush budget would fund 2nd Ave subway


By Chuck Bennett
amNewYork Staff Writer


February 6, 2007

President George W. Bush promised cash for the Second Avenue subway and the project to bring the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal in his 2008 budget unveiled Monday.

"We've been working with them toward this goal, but until it appears in black and white nothing is a done deal," said Chris Boylan, deputy director of the MTA. "We're happy. It's very good news."


The $3.8 billion first phase of the Second Avenue subway will get $1.3 billion over a yet-to-be-determined number of years. The $6.3 billion Grand Central Terminal project, known as East Side Access, will receive $215 million from the federal government.

"Every year the budget is a document that contains a lot of surprise, some good, some bad and these are good,"Boylan said.

Digging on the Second Avenue subway, which will initially stretch from 96th Street to 63rd Street, is expected to start next month. :cool:

http://www.amny.com/news/local/transportation/subway/am-bushsub0206,0,6405706.story?coll=am-topheadlines

[jarod213]

Has anyone seen the East Side Access kiosk at Grand Central near the little train museum, by the starbucks? The designs are really incredible. As you descend into the LIRR concourse, the architecture moves from a modern rendition of the existing GCT concourse (arches, vaults, etc.) to a supermodern, brightly lit design. It's absolutely incredible. I can't wait for construction to be finish. What's amazing about this project is that very little of the construction will affect the existing concourses and train schedules. This project, and the Trans Hudson Express Tunnel, are going to change the entire metro region. People from westchester will be able to commute to long island without leaving grand central. Now all we need is a rail link between Grand Central and Penn Station!

[ramvid01]

Now all we need is a rail link between Grand Central and Penn Station!

Well...if they run a spur from the 7 train expansion to Penn station...naaaah too much of a good idea for them.:rolleyes:

[NIMBYkiller]

Transfer at TSQ ya lazy bums! The 7 stays on 42nd St as planned. MTA should be trying to find a way to let MN run into Penn Station anyway. LIRR to GCT, MN to NYP. Now you have a full connected MTA.

[clubBR]

LIRR shrinks gaps at end-of-line stations

BY JENNIFER MALONEY
jennifer.maloney@newsday.com


April 4, 2007, 10:16 PM EDT

The Long Island Rail Road is shrinking gaps at most of its end-of-the-line stations to 5 inches -- 2 inches less than the railroad industry's minimum gap standard.

Scattered from Brooklyn to Montauk, the stations have a total of 30 platforms -- 10 of which are on the railroad's top-priority list because they have gaps wider than 10 inches.


Industry standards created to allow for the safe passage of freight trains correspond to a 7-inch minimum gap on the LIRR's straight platforms, though until recently the railroad has maintained an even larger minimum of 8 inches. The LIRR now is reviewing its own standard.

Railroad officials say they can reduce gaps at many terminus stations without risking collisions between trains and platforms for two reasons: there is no freight traffic along these platforms and passenger trains move past them at less than 15 miles per hour.

LIRR crews are narrowing the gaps by permanently tacking wooden boards to platform edges, said LIRR spokesman Sam Zambuto. Gaps on straight platforms will be reduced to 5 inches; those on curved inches will be slightly wider, depending on the sharpness of the curve.

So far, six platforms at Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn and one at Port Jefferson have been modified. Those stations originally had gaps as wide as 15.5 inches and 14.5 inches, respectively.

Three particularly wide platform gaps at Port Washington and Long Beach will also be narrowed to 5 inches. Other terminals slated for work include Long Island City, Far Rockaway and Greenport.

The railroad began addressing dangerously wide gaps after the August death of a Minnesota teenager, and Newsday reports of gaps as wide as 15 inches at some LIRR stations.

In a five-month investigation published in January, Newsday found that the LIRR -- which has had about 900 gap incidents during the past 11 years -- had known for three decades that gaps posed a hazard to riders.

The railroad does not know when it will complete all the end-of-the-line station adjustments, and officials said they could not estimate how much the work will cost. In February, railroad officials estimated that gap work throughout the system would cost at least $13 million.

[clubBR]

Snafu again slaps LIRR passengers

BY SARAH PORTLOCK and PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Wednesday, April 4th 2007, 4:00 AM

Long Island Rail Road passengers were delayed for the second day in a row yesterday at ticket vending machines that wouldn't accept credit and debit cards.
The machines intermittently rejected riders' attempts to buy monthly passes and regular tickets from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Manhattan, Queens and Long Island - creating long lines at the machines and ticket windows.
Some riders again were forced to buy tickets onboard trains at higher prices.
"It was pandemonium," said an LIRR rider at Penn Station who declined to give his name.
LIRR officials said they were working with Chase Merchant Services, which processes the debit and credit card purchases, to correct the problem.
Commuter Alan Gershowitz, 49, didn't have cash when he arrived at the Syosset machine Monday morning and walked several blocks to find a working ATM.
"Driving a car is more of a nightmare, so I'll take my chances with LIRR until I come up with a better solution," he said.
The majority of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ticket revenues come from credit and debit card purchases, which can't be completed at ticket windows. The LIRR said it would reimburse riders who paid a surcharge for buying tickets on trains during the days the ticket vending machines were broken.

[TonyO]

NY Times
May 11, 2007

Awaiting Rock-Eating Beast, L.I.R.R. Tunnel Is Poised to Finish Trip to Grand Central

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/05/10/nyregion/11tunnel-600.jpg

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
All the parts needed to build a mammoth tunnel-boring machine are crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a boat from Italy and are due to arrive tomorrow at the port in Newark.

Over the next few weeks, the parts will be hauled to Queens and carried through the 63rd Street tunnel under the East River, to a rock cavern about 140 feet below the corner of Second Avenue and 63rd Street in Manhattan. There, the machine will be assembled and, by the end of the year, it will begin chewing through the rock of Manhattan, headed for Grand Central Terminal.

Yesterday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took members of the news media to view the subterranean spot where the work will begin. The project is meant to cure decades of transportation frustration by realizing the long-held goal of connecting the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal on the East Side of Manhattan.

For years, the 63rd Street double-decker tunnel started in 1969 has been mocked as the “tunnel to nowhere.” The tunnel’s top level was built for subway trains, but no trains ran there until 1989. But even then service ended after just one stop into Queens, and it was not until 2001 that a connector was built linking the tunnel to the subway lines that run along Queens Boulevard.

Even today, the tunnel’s lower deck still leads nowhere. Built to carry Long Island Rail Road trains to the East Side of Manhattan, the tunnel’s lower portion was never connected to anything, and it has remained a dead-end anomaly, a testament to high aspirations and low finances.

When it begins its slow trip under Manhattan, grinding through the rock at the rate of about 50 feet a day, the 200-ton machine will travel southwest to Park Avenue and then south to Grand Central.

Next year a second tunnel-boring machine will be put in place and will begin cutting a parallel channel under Manhattan. When the $6.3 billion project is completed in 2013, one tunnel will carry Manhattan-bound trains and the other will carry trains going to Long Island.

Crews of urban miners known as sandhogs are already busy preparing for the first machine’s arrival, blasting out an underground assembly area in the rock.

They report for work behind a high fence on Northern Boulevard in Sunnyside, Queens, where an elevator carries them eight stories under the ground. There, a rickety set of tracks runs into the tunnel mouth.

A low-slung train designed for use in mining operations runs on the track. The workers call it a “man-trip.” It has two cars with two rows of bare wooden benches facing one another. Inside there is room only to sit, not stand, during the 10-minute trip to the Manhattan end of the tunnel.

Horn blaring, the man-trip catapults through the tunnel with the noise of 500 garbage cans being dragged through an alley. Small mesh-covered windows give glimpses of a hidden realm bathed in tangerine light: a pile of gray rocks, a stream of water pouring from something that looks like a tap in the tunnel roof. Even at the dead end of the tunnel in Manhattan there is graffiti, something familiar in a distant place.

At its Manhattan terminus, the tunnel is made up of two concrete tubes side-by-side in the earth, each one 19 and a half feet across. A sludge of powdered rock is underfoot. At the end, a rough face of black Manhattan schist glints with bits of mica.

Already there is a 65-foot-long cavern on one side, where the first machine will be assembled — a 200-ton robot that eats rock.

[TonyO]

This was in AMNY, I didn't hear anything about this but it makes sense.

Metro North to get west side access

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer
jsilverman@am-ny.com


May 11, 2007
The East Side Access plan won't only make life easier for the estimated 50,000 LIRR commuters who work on the East Side.

It will also open up track space at Penn Station, allowing 'west side access' to Metro North trains coming in from upstate and Connecticut.

Metro-North already has access to Penn via existing tracks (the same ones used by Amtrak), but doesn't serve the station because the tracks are used by LIRR trains.

With some of those LIRR trains diverted to Grand Central, there should be room at Penn for Metro North, according to MTA officials.


Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

[MikeW]

Has anyone ever seen this much work being done in the the city before?

Between the hoards for private development projects, the LIRR project, the 2nd Ave subway, the never ending third water tunnel, and whatever else is happening, it must be a wonderful time to be in the construction business.

[Dynamicdezzy]

*off of the MTA website*

Massive Tunnel Boring Machine Arrives

$10 Million, 200 Ton Equipment Will Dig Tunnel to Provide LIRR Access to Grand Central

The MTA's East Side Access project - which brings Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal - reached another milestone on Saturday when a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) completed its journey from Italy and arrived on U.S. shores. East Side Access is a $6.3 billion project that will provide access to Grand Central Terminal for Long Island Rail Road commuters. When complete in 2013, East Side Access will serve approximately 160,000 customers a day.

The 200 ton TBM was tested outside of Rome, Italy last month and then disassembled. The cutter head and largest components were shipped by boat in pieces. Its trailing gear and the smaller components that make up the rest of the machine will arrive separately later this month. The largest components arrived at Red Hook, N.Y., Saturday. Once the shipment has cleared customs, the pieces will be taken by truckload to Long Island City, Queens, where they will be lowered into the 63rd Street tunnel via a massive excavation. The pieces will then be transported through the tunnel, under the East River, to a "launch box" under 63rd Street and 2nd Avenue. The TBM will be assembled in the launch box and will begin digging its way toward Grand Central later this summer. A second TBM will arrive later this year to dig a second tube for the project.

The bi-level 63rd Street tunnel was constructed starting in 1969, designed to carry both subway and commuter rail trains. Due to budget shortfalls, the tunnel remained unused until 1989, when F train service was routed through the tunnel's upper level to 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue. The lower level currently terminates at 63rd Street and 2nd Avenue, where the TBM will pick up shortly to begin boring toward Grand Central. Connecting tunnels will be completed in Queens to link the tunnel to the LIRR's Main Line and Port Washington branch tracks.

The project will have a number of significant regional transportation benefits, including:

* Reducing Penn Station train arrivals while increasing LIRR Manhattan arrivals by 41 percent
* Reducing pedestrian crowding in Penn Station
* Eliminating standees on the LIRR between Jamaica and Penn Station
* Improving the reliability of train service
* Reducing crowding on the subway lines that use Penn Station and the No. 7 line
* Reducing daily vehicle miles of travel in the region and improving air quality
* Allowing for Metro-North Railroad service to Penn Station, thereby providing for a more balanced transportation system
* Providing convenient access between the east side of Manhattan and JFK International Airport (via the AirTrain at Jamaica)
* Supporting local and regional land use and economic development patterns.

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/743/esa1he7.th.jpg (http://img107.imageshack.us/my.php?image=esa1he7.jpg)

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9134/esa2mo4.th.jpg (http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=esa2mo4.jpg)

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/2788/esa3mr3.th.jpg (http://img122.imageshack.us/my.php?image=esa3mr3.jpg)

[NIMBYkiller]

I highly doubt the LIRR is going to give up any of the slots at Penn Station. From what I've heard, they're intending on adding trains for the GCT service, keeping the Penn Station slots filled. Rush hour trains are beyond packed, so this wouldn't surprise me. I'd be VERY [happily] surprised to see Metro North go to Penn Station.

[pianoman11686]

East Side Access Project Takes Giant Step Forward

June 12, 2007

The plan to bring the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal took a giant step forward Monday as the MTA lowered the pieces of a tunnel boring machine into the 63rd Street tunnel in Queens.

It's another step in the MTA's $6.3 billion East Side Access project.

The 200-ton machine arrived in pieces by boat last month after being tested in Italy in April. The pieces were then taken by truck to Long Island City, Queens to be lowered into the tunnel.

The president of the MTA Capital Construction Company says the agency hopes to begin boring by the end of the summer.

"We are going to assemble all those pieces into a machine like a train,” said MTA Capital Construction president Mysore Nagaraja. “We have tracks already laid out in the tunnel and then it's going to go through those tracks into the Manhattan end of this tunnel, which was built 30 years ago, and there we have already made a launch chamber. That means to accommodate this whole boring machine to start operation on the Manhattan side."

Another boring machine will arrive later this year to dig a second tube.

The project is slated to be finished in 2013.

Copyright © 2007 NY1 News. (http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=70601)

[Ninjahedge]

This just in:

The gym I go to, Ballys at 43rd and Madison, is shutting down because of the aquisition by some party in order to expand the LIRR connection to Grand Central.

It is a good thing that they are expanding, but dissapointing that they need to take a place out that is on the opposite side of Grand Central from where the LIRR is coming from.

It really stinks because I got a great price there, and all the other gyms in Midtown seem to concentrate more on being Spas than actual places for exercise. (And you pay for it too!!!).

:(

[mkeit]

Are you sure it is for ESA? The only properties listed are from 48-50 Sts, between Park and Masdison.

[ramvid01]

It has been over a month that the peices for the boring machine have been brought into the tunnel. I wonder if the machine has been constructed and they have started the process of actually digging the hole. It is of course impossible to tell since the MTA site has not updated in about 6 months :(:confused:.

[Ninjahedge]

Are you sure it is for ESA? The only properties listed are from 48-50 Sts, between Park and Masdison.


Nope.

Just telling you what I heard from the rumor mill.

Fact is, the gym IS going bye-bye. Everything else is just word-of-mouth.

[TonyO]

MTA: Bid too high for Grand Central LIRR terminal
BY STEVE RITEA | steve.ritea@newsday.com
8:26 PM EDT, October 22, 2007

A single bid to help carve out space for a new Long Island Rail Road terminal under Grand Central Terminal came in $200 million higher than anticipated, officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday, leaving them to pursue whether that could delay the plan.

Also Monday, MTA officials said tax revenues the agency relies on to help fund its operations budget may be coming in lower than they had projected. Predicting a deficit next year, the MTA has already floated a fare hike proposal and is hosting a series of public forums next month, including one Nov. 7 at Farmingdale State College.

At the same time, the agency is using a separate capital budget for a series of ambitious projects like East Side Access, which will bring up to 24 LIRR trains an hour into Grand Central during peak periods.

Mysore Nagaraja, president of capital construction for the MTA, said the job of clearing a massive space under Grand Central had been estimated to cost $670 million. Instead, the bid came in closer to $870 million and "we were not happy with the number," he said.

The sole bid was submitted by a joint venture between Judlau Contracting Inc. of College Point and Dragados, a Spanish firm, which last year were awarded a separate $428-million contract to tunnel under Manhattan in preparation for the LIRR's expected 2013 arrival at Grand Central.

Nagaraja said an uncommonly large number of construction projects in the region and even worldwide may have led to less interest from bidders. "They're not hungry," he said.

Nagaraja said the job may be split into several smaller contracts and he's exploring whether a new call for bidders could delay the project beyond its expected 2013 completion.

Also, MTA finance chief Gary Dellaverson said new estimates from the state show the agency is scheduled to receive about $70 million less than the $330 million expected next year in revenue from various state taxes.

The MTA's revenues from a separate stream of real estate taxes dropped sharply in October, down $47.6 million from September. In anticipation of a downward trend, the MTA has already forecast $250 million less in real estate revenues for 2008 than this year, Dellaverson said.

Video and photos of the project at this link:

http://www.amny.com/news/local/ny-limta1023,0,121724.story

[ramvid01]

The MTA's whole we need money because we can't budget is getting old. The last thing we need to see is a delay because that means more costs and more likely that something else from this project will get cut. Luckily the contract to dig the tunnel has been awarded. I hope the state/feds chip in some more money to cover the extra costs.

[antinimby]

The MTA's incompetence is getting old. Something needs to be done to overhaul their entire management structure.

[Alonzo-ny]

Is LIRR/NJTransit/Metro North 24/7 like the subway and path?

[TonyO]

Down in the hole

Nineteen stories below the city, the MTA is drilling

by patrick arden / metro new york

NOV 9, 2007

UPPER EAST SIDE. Nineteen stories below the corner of 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue, a 22-foot-high tunnel-boring machine is cutting through about 50 feet of granite.

It’s part of the $6.3 billion East Side Access project, the nation’s largest mass-transit venture, which will eventually bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal.

Since starting to dig two weeks ago, the 200-ton machine and its elaborate tracking apparatus have traveled west almost 600 feet under 63rd Street. About 270 men are working on the project over three shifts, five days a week. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority offered a tour of the site on Thursday.

East Side Access construction began in the late 1960s, when prefabricated portions of tunnel were lowered into trenches dug into the bed of the East River. That original 2.5-mile tunnel runs from Sunnyside, Queens, to Second Avenue in Manhattan. Back then, there was no such thing as a tunnel-boring machine.

“It’s much faster,” said Mysore Nagaraja, president of MTA Capital Construction. “Just yesterday we advanced 85 feet, which is very good. We are going to Park Avenue, and then south until 38th Street. Underneath Grand Central, we’re going to build a major cavern there for a new station. Our scheduled completion is the end of 2013.”

The boring machine, with “thousands” of parts and “30 or 40” blades, must be assembled on site. It costs about $10 million and cannot be reused. The demand for tunneling machines is currently strong worldwide, complicating the MTA’s quest to dig tunnels for three major projects.

“We are competing with China, Europe, India, everywhere,” Nagaraja said. “Right now we have four tunnel borings: two machines here, one for the Second Avenue Subway, one for the number 7 line extension. It’s an exciting time.”

[TonyO]

AMNY story and video here:

http://www.amny.com/news/local/transportation/am-worm1109,0,1844544.story?coll=amny_home_rail_headl ines

[STT757]

Is LIRR/NJTransit/Metro North 24/7 like the subway and path?

No they shut down for a few hours at night, something like 1:30am-4:30 am.

[Alonzo-ny]

Still pretty good!

[ASchwarz]

No they shut down for a few hours at night, something like 1:30am-4:30 am.

LIRR is 24/7

NJ Transit will be 24/7 beginning in 2008 on the Northeast Corridor Line only

Metro North is closed for about two hours (2AM to 4AM)

[Peter Quennell]

To/from GC?

Is there one? I've been puzzling over mentions of MN maybe running trains to Penn.

Other than MN trains using the ESA beyond 2013 to head out east onto Long Island somewhere (Jamaica?) and then back west to Penn along the tracks under (I think) 32nd Street (a wacky route at best) I cant figure out a route.

There was once talk of the THE tunnel from Jersey extending beyond Macy's to GC. That woulda done it, but I think that idea went away.

[Bob]

What I don't understand is this: why couldn't the LIRR trains simply connect to the Park Avenue tunnel? GCT has plenty of tracks, on two levels. I don't understand the need to carve out a completely new space UNDER what is already there, in order to build what will essentially be a separate terminal.

Somebody help me out with this one.

[ramvid01]

^^ There are probably many reasons. One the current tracks are just below street level while the tunnel that brings LIRR into GC is on the lower level of the F tracks which are already very deep as is (about 130+ feet I believe). So that means that if they would connect it to current tracks it would have to be done on the straight-away coming into GS.

Secondly, I am pretty sure that they want more track capacity. They don't want to hog any of the tracks in use by Metro North already. It is probably easier (read faster) that is straight then one that has an incline, plus if you were to connect it to the current tracks it would mean the added expense of modifiying the current tunnels. This might just take more time than building a new terminal. Space could be another reason, more space equals less crowding, which LIRR into existing tracks would bring. Just some thoughts though.

[Fahzee]

^ correct - it's all about capacity. There are more trains running the reverse commute then ever before (that is, running from Grand Central to Greenwich & Stamford CT, as well as White Plains), so the tracks under Grand Central are in near constant use throughout rush hour

And as an added bonus

(from Streetsblog.com)
MTA Deputy Director of Media Relations, Jeremy Soffin, sends this along:

As you know, the first tunnel boring machine for the East Side Access project has been chewing its way under Manhattan for almost a month, and we just wanted to provide a short update. The machine has now tunneled approximately 1,350 feet. While the machine generally averages 50 feet per day, we had a record performance yesterday of 114 feet. The machine is now operating underneath 60th Street near Lexington Avenue. In total, the machine will bore approximately 7,200 feet total to 38th street. A second TBM has been assembled in the "launch box" at 63rd Street and 2nd Avenue and will begin tunneling a parallel tube shortly.
East Side Access will bring LIRR trains into Grand Central Terminal for the first time.
You can find more information on the construction here (http://mta.info/mta/news/releases/?en=071109-HQ73).

[STT757]

Is there one? I've been puzzling over mentions of MN maybe running trains to Penn.

Metro North can run both the Hudson and New Haven lines into New York Penn, the Harlem would need to back track and switch directions to access NY Penn which is why it's not being considered.

Metro North's Hudson line would use the Spuyten Duyvil bridge to access Amtrak's Empire Connection which runs down the far West Side of Manhattan all the way to NY Penn.

Metro North's New Haven lines would use Amtrak's Hells Gate Bridge to access NY Penn.

There is no connector between NY Penn and Grand Central, prior to Amtrak making the Empire Connection in 1991 at New York Penn Amtrak's Broadway Limited, Adirondak, Maple Leaf, and Empire trains all operated from Grand Central.

On this map Amtrak Lines are in Black, Metro North's New Haven line is in Red, Harlem line in Blue and the Hudson line in Green.

http://www.mta.info/mta/planning/psas/studyarea.htm

[Bob]

It seems a shame to have these multi-million dollar TBMs churning away down there, only to be parked (for good?) at their terminus. Seems as if they might as well keep churning to another location, let's say...Penn Station?

[ablarc]

Metro North's Hudson line would use the Spuyten Duyvil bridge to access Amtrak's Empire Connection which runs down the far West Side of Manhattan all the way to NY Penn.

Metro North's New Haven lines would use Amtrak's Hells Gate Bridge to access NY Penn.
But why is off-peak weekend-only service on the table as an option?

[ASchwarz]

But why is off-peak weekend-only service on the table as an option?

There's currently no peak capacity. Once the second tunnel to Jersey opens, there will be capacity for peak Metro North trains at Penn.

[ramvid01]

I am hoping that the MTA keeps us up to date fairly frequently on this project as it seems to be moving at a very fast pace (at least the tunnel digging into Grand Central).

[Peter Quennell]

On how the MN gets to Penn. Yes I see it all now.

I've posted on the ESA tunnel at this link below for our Jersey crowd. You know, the folks that want the 7 line to head for Weehawken.....

http://galaxyrising.com/ee/index.php?/trifecta/comments/the_mighty_chomper_begins/

Shots of the ESA are hard to come by. Anyone?

[mkeit]

There are three important things to remember:

1-MN will not give up any track space-even though GCT is underused.
2-The third rail systems are different-LIRR-overrunning, MN-underrunning.
3-Running into the lower level would result in shallower tunnels and a much higher construction cost to underpin buildings and the Park Ave tunnel tracks. This was discribed in the original EIS when the different options were outlined.

You can get good photos of both the Manhattan tunnel work site and the Queens open cut site from the Astoria-bound N train as it leaves Queensboro Plaza. A fast shutter speed to eliminate the train shake is needed. If you walk by the site during the week, you can see (and hear) the conveyor that carries the tunnel spoil across Northern Blvd.

[STT757]

On how the MN gets to Penn. Yes I see it all now.

I've posted on the ESA tunnel at this link below for our Jersey crowd. You know, the folks that want the 7 line to head for Weehawken.....

http://galaxyrising.com/ee/index.php?/trifecta/comments/the_mighty_chomper_begins/

Shots of the ESA are hard to come by. Anyone?

The 7 train if it were to be extended further beyond the Jacob Javits Center should just run straight down the West Side all the way to the World Financial Center where it could be connected to the Calavatrava PATH hub.

If any subway were to cross the Hudson into Jersey it should be the L train, to Hoboken Terminal.

[mkeit]

Railway Age.com 12/19/07=
MTA's East Side Access faces delay-New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has approved an updated plan to bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal, but the revision likely will delay the project's completion roughly six months to 2014.

MTA's President of Capital Construction, Mysore Nagaraja, said the estimate for creating a new underground concourse beneath Grand Central Terminal originally was $671 million. A single submitted bid of $980 million forced MTA to renegotiate the project's scope with the contractor, a joint venture of Judlau Contracting Inc. and Dragados.

The parties agreed to a revised $734 million contract, which has been approved by the finance committee of MTA's Board of Directors.

The Judlau/Dragados joint venture also has been awarded the $428 million contract to tunnel under Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal, as part of MTA's East Side Access plan for the LIRR.

[ramvid01]

Apparently the MTA does update their site from time to time. Here is a pictures showing where the TBM's were as of 2/28/08:

http://www.mta.info/capconstr/esas/images/tbm_progress.jpg

Looks like the first machine is around 54th (although at this point it could be in the high 40's) and the other is around 60th or so??

[TonyO]

NY Post

DIG IT! AN LIRR TUNNEL TO GCT

By PATRICK GALLAHUE

Last updated: 7:54 am
July 3, 2008
Posted: 3:39 am
July 3, 2008

A tunnel-boring machine completed digging the first leg of the $7.2 billion Long Island Rail Road link to Grand Central Station, the MTA announced yesterday.

Another 2-ton machine should complete a second tunnel by the end of this summer.

"We look forward to inaugurating Long Island Rail Road service at Grand Central Terminal - a dream many have shared for generations," said MTA chief Elliot Sander.

After several delays, the project is slated to finish in 2015.

"Even tougher than tunneling through bedrock is tunneling through the public skepticism that these projects will ever get done," said Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Good to hear about PROGRESS in one of these big jobs.

Good also to have you posting again, TonyO, it's been a while.

[TonyO]

Good to hear about PROGRESS in one of these big jobs.

Good also to have you posting again, TonyO, it's been a while.

Thanks. It will be good to see something get done for this project, we'll see how things progress in August when the second tunnel is supposed to be completed.

[ramvid01]

Thanks for posting the article.

It is indeed good to see progress made on this project however, 7 years to finish the cavern? Yikes! :eek:

[TonyO]

NY Times
July 18, 2008

19 Stories Below Manhattan, a 640-Ton Machine Drills a New Train Tunnel

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/18/nyregion/18tunnel1.600.jpg
A section of a recently completed 7,700-foot tunnel under Manhattan, which will someday provide an East Side stop for Long Island Rail Road trains.

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

Apparently, you don’t need a windshield to drive through a rock wall.

Some 19 stories under the streets of Manhattan on Thursday, the driver of a 640-ton telescopic tunnel-boring machine stood in a tiny windowless metal cubicle before a pair of small computer screens and an array of buttons and gauges.

“No windshield? Don’t need one,” said the driver (or operator, as he prefers), Anthony Spinoso.

Over several months he has driven the machine 7,700 feet, from a spot deep under Second Avenue and 63rd Street, through the bedrock, to the depths beneath Grand Central Terminal, where the tunnel he has helped dig will someday bring Long Island Rail Road trains to the East Side of Manhattan.

Now he is backing the machine up several hundred feet to a point where it will begin boring a parallel tunnel. Another thing that Mr. Spinoso does not have is a steering wheel. Instead, he guides the movement of the machine with buttons in front of him, striving to hold a green dot (his machine) on the computer screen at the center of a narrow yellow line that represents his programmed course. He must keep the 22-foot-tall, 360-foot-long behemoth on track without varying more than 2 inches in any direction.

“You just push the buttons, it’s like a video game,” said Edward Kennedy, an engineer helping to supervise the work. “The guy has a screen with a yellow line on it, the yellow brick road. All he has to do is keep on the yellow brick road.”

The digging began last fall for the new Long Island Rail Road tunnels — there will ultimately be eight tunnel sections feeding into an immense new station below Grand Central. There are two machines working simultaneously on separate tunnel sections (the second one, which started later, has reached 48th Street). They can cut through 100 feet of rock a day but often move much slower. The tunneling and the excavation of a huge cavern under Grand Central to house the new station are expected to be completed in 2012, but the entire project will not be finished until at least 2015.

The boring is being done for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by Dragados Judlau, a joint venture of large construction firms. The cost of the tunneling is $428 million, but the entire project, which includes building out the station and laying the tracks, is expected to cost $7.2 billion. The new tunnels will connect to an existing tunnel under the East River and from there (via more tunneling) to Long Island Rail Road tracks in Queens.

A group of reporters and photographers was invited to tour the most advanced of the tunnel sections on Thursday because it had reached a milestone by arriving at the area below Grand Central.

Still, much work remains to be done and that includes securing more financing for the project. The federal government has agreed to provide $2.7 billion, and an additional $1.7 billion has been earmarked so far through the transportation authority’s capital spending programs. But the transportation authority, which is facing grievous budgetary challenges, must seek an additional $2.8 billion in a new capital program it will submit to the state next year.

The scene near the end of the tunnel on Thursday was a post-industrial tableau of rusted metal, snaking ducts and conduit and cable.

The sides of the tunnel were streaked with groundwater in places, dry in others. The perfectly curved face of the carved rock, a type known as Manhattan schist, showed the striations left by the machine’s passage. The rock was a mottled, marbled canvas of greys, blacks and whites, and it was possible to see the swirls and layers where the once-molten stone had been squeezed and cooled.

The tunnel was lit by electric lights. The air smelled of diesel fuel and rock dust. As a group of reporters and photographers slipped and dodged through the mud, one of the handful of workers mucking about asked, “Did you bring your sunscreen?”

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/18/nyregion/18tunnel0.650.jpg
Jimmy Diamond, a sandhog, or tunnel worker, helped the conductor of the Mantrip, a train that carries workers through the tunnel, navigate safely toward Grand Central Terminal.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/18/nyregion/18tunnel_large.gif

Interactive, 360 degree view:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/07/17/nyregion/20080718_SUBWAY_FEATURE.html

[STT757]

Many including myself wish they would keep those boring machines drilling all the way to 34th street next to Penn Station in order to link up with the future ARC NJ Transit tunnel, thus allowing NJ Transit trains to access Grand Central Terminal.

[spatulashack]

Many including myself wish they would keep those boring machines drilling all the way to 34th street next to Penn Station in order to link up with the future ARC NJ Transit tunnel, thus allowing NJ Transit trains to access Grand Central Terminal.

That would require forward-thinking politicians who do things for the good of everyone, think about the greater context of projects, and ignore state boundaries instead of just worrying about details that help their constintuents. In other words it would require politicians that we don't have.

[kliq6]

have not had that since Robert Moses, like him or not he got things done and made life easier for many.

[spatulashack]

have not had that since Robert Moses, like him or not he got things done and made life easier for many.

Ohh no, no. He is not the type of politician I was discussing. Who exactly did he make life easier for? I agree he got things done but he got all the wrong things done and certainly did so without much regard for the surroundings. I guess he made it easier for those driving from New Jersey to JFK but other than that, he made the quality of life worse for those living in the city and we're still paying for all of his mistakes. I will give him kudos for understanding the need to invest in New York's park system though.

[Don31]

have not had that since Robert Moses, like him or not he got things done and made life easier for many.

True, but he also disrupted many, many lives (Cross Bronx Expressway for example).

[kliq6]

never said he was perfect or correct my point is when he said he would build or do something he did and the projects got done fast and effective.

[Don31]

Point taken.

[mkeit]

While progress has been made on the tunnels to Manhattan. the work in Queens has not moved far. For the last 8 months, the two shafts excavated in Sunnyside Yards have been flooded. A sub contractor has just been brought in to grout the leaks. The smaller of the two shafts was to be used to tunnel under the E-R-V subway line.

[TonyO]

Newsday

Stimulus funds being used for LIRR project
May 7, 2009

NEW YORK - Some money from the federal stimulus package is going to help the Long Island Railroad build new rail lines to the east side of Manhattan.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will receive $195.4 million for what is called the Eastside Access Project. The MTA is the parent organization of the LIRR.

The goal is to help jump-start the project, while also boosting the local economy.

Until now, LIRR trains have only stopped at Penn Station on Manhattan's West Side. New tunnels are being built that will give Long Island commuters access to Grand Central Terminal on the East Side.

The project is not expected to be completed until 2013.

[dtolman]

Good to see one project is still on track for a roughly on-time completion.

[ramvid01]

The MTA has really stopped updating the tunneling progress picture on it's site. It has been about three months since the last update. I am pretty sure they are starting to get pretty far along with the tunneling portion in Manhattan.

[dtolman]

Looks like another spate of articles on the project is out - they are still making nice progress:

http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Mud-sweat-and-trains-Tunnel-dig-going-full-bore-340914.php

Crews have opened up a 65-foot-wide and 40-foot-high gouge to house a westbound platform space at the end of two 22-foot diameter tunnels, though work on the two lower level platforms will require excavating another 40 to 50 feet down
...
When complete, there will be three new concourses running north to south from underneath the Roosevelt Hotel to Park Avenue, covering about 355,000 square feet, including about 91,000 square feet of public space for shops, ticket offices, pathways into Grand Central and other amenities.

A total of 17 escalators will be built to carry passengers up and down from the four-platform terminal, work that requires excavation of four separate shafts about 100 feet deep

Some nice photos here:
http://gothamist.com/2010/01/29/mta_photos_show_lirr_work_in_massiv.php

And for the aurally attuned - an Audio Postcard from WNYC (a nice slideshow here too):
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/149314

[ZippyTheChimp]

July 24, 2011


Deep Below Park Avenue, a Monster at Rest

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Rome has the catacombs; Paris has its sewers. Now New York will have its own subterranean wonder: a 200-ton mechanical serpent’s head.

It is a gargantuan drill that has been hollowing out tunnels for a train station under Grand Central Terminal. As tall as four men and with the weight of two whales, the so-called cutter head — the spinning, sharp-edged business end of a tunnel boring machine — is usually extracted, dismantled and sold for scrap when the work is done.

But the Spanish contractor overseeing the project is taking a different approach. It believes it can save time and money by simply leaving it behind, dormant and decayed, within the rocky depths of Midtown Manhattan. The drill’s final resting place: 14 stories beneath the well-tended sidewalks of Park Avenue.

There is little precedent for such a Brobdingnagian burial. No one at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which plans to officially entomb the machine sometime this week, can recall such an interment. “It’s like a Jules Verne story,” Michael Horodniceanu, the authority’s chief of construction, said.

A recent visit to the cutter’s future crypt revealed a machine that evokes an alien life form that crashed to earth a millennia ago. Its steel gears, bolts and pistons, already oxidizing, appeared lifeless and fatigued. A wormlike fan, its exhaust pipe disappearing into the cutter’s maw, was still spinning, its drone not unlike a slumbering creature’s breath.

“If you came and visited this 100 years from today, this is what you’d see,” said Dr. Horodniceanu, balancing on a catwalk that overlooks the enormous contraption. “People would not know what it’s all about.”

The cutter head, known as Seli after its Italian manufacturer, has been eating its way through several miles of Manhattan schist since 2007. Its flat face is equipped with 45 rotating discs, each carrying a layer of tungsten carbide, an exceptionally strong alloy that can easily break through the city’s bedrock. (Rumors that the machine used diamonds for this purpose were “an urban legend,” according to a transportation authority spokesman.)

Starting in 2016, the 22-foot-diameter tunnels created by the cutter will carry thousands of Long Islanders into a station beneath Grand Central Terminal. Today, the passages are craggy and unfinished, suggesting the ominous, organic look of a monster’s cave.

Seli cost $6 million to $8 million, but Dragados, the project’s chief contractor and operator of the machine, decided this year that a scrap sale would not be economical. It can take months to dismantle a cutter, and the parts would have to be hauled from Midtown to the tunnel’s other end in Sunnyside, Queens. The removal would delay further construction, potentially costing millions of dollars in additional wages.

“It costs, in effect, $100,000 a day just to be there — to say, ‘Hello!’ ” Dr. Horodniceanu said. “A machine like this, they want to spend $9 million pulling it out? You must be kidding me. It’s not happening.”

Burial is more common for cutters in international tunneling projects. But the approach has rarely been tried in New York, whose crowded underground does not often have room.

The new Second Avenue subway line ends at the 63rd Street F train station, not an ideal cemetery plot. On the No. 7 line, which is being extended to the Far West Side, the burial would have to take place beneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal, “and you can’t bury it in the Port Authority, very simply put,” Dr. Horodniceanu said.

But the grassy Park Avenue median, between 37th and 38th Streets, did not pose a problem. And extracting the cutter from that location was out of the question. “There would had to have been a 40-foot-diameter shaft right in Park Avenue, in front of the Union League Club, to pull it out,” said Mark Rhodes, an engineer on the project.

That image prompted Dr. Horodniceanu to laugh. “As it is, we don’t have many friends,” he said, shaking his head.

A man who answered the phone at the Union League Club said the organization would not comment about the clubhouse’s new underground neighbor. But he conceded that the members were “painfully aware” of the construction occurring 140 feet beneath their gilded lobby.

In an official ceremony this week, the cutter will be sealed off by a concrete wall; the chamber will then be filled with concrete, encasing the cutter in a solid cast, Han Solo-style, so that it can serve as a support structure for the tunnel. A plaque will commemorate the site. A spokesman said the pouring of the concrete was expected to take place on Wednesday.

One might wonder what future generations will think if and when the cutter is ever dug up. In “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” an astronaut discovers the ruins of the Queensboro Plaza subway station, colorful tiles still intact. (Queensboro Plaza is an elevated station, but the film does get credit for trying.) In that instance, the discovery prompted the horrifying revelation that Earth was destroyed in a nuclear holocaust and is now overrun by a race of intelligent apes.

Dr. Horodniceanu did not quite envision that same situation for Seli.

“People will find it, and they will find it exciting to see it, if they ever unearth it,” he said. “Who knows? Maybe they will want to continue the railroad south, at which point they would have to take it out.”

Dr. Horodniceanu pondered that a moment: “Not an easy thing if they want to take it out.” He shrugged. “If they want to take it out, they will not look upon us favorably that we left it behind.”

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/07/25/nyregion/TUNNEL1/TUNNEL1-popup.jpg
The 200-ton, 22.5-foot diameter tunnel-boring drill.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/07/25/nyregion/TUNNEL2/TUNNEL2-popup.jpg
An underground stretch that is being excavated for a train station under Grand Central Terminal. To save time and money, the Spanish contractor overseeing the project will leave the drill behind in Midtown, instead of extracting, dismantling and selling it for scrap.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/07/25/nyregion/25tunnel_map/25tunnel_map-popup.jpg

© 2011 The New York Times Company

[macreator]

How great would it be if they kept digging southward to Penn to create a new shuttle between two major hubs? One can dream...

[Nexis4Jersey]

How great would it be if they kept digging southward to Penn to create a new shuttle between two major hubs? One can dream...

Yea but then they have to enlarge all the current station and tunnel to hold Catenary for NJT and Amtrak and i doubt that would happen.

[Bob]

Could serve as a very unique tourist spot, for the right investor.

[Don31]

Could serve as a very unique tourist spot, for the right investor.

Thats actually not a bad idea.....

[ramvid01]

Recent video of one of the tunnel boring machines in Queens breaking through under the Sunnyside Yards. Not sure who at the MTA picks the music, but it is a strange selection IMHO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJsp63w4lVs&feature=relmfu