by orulz
Hi, this is my first post in this forum. I'm fascinated with railroad infrastructure in NYC, but I'm not from New York and I don't know too much about how things in the city are laid out, so please correct me if I make any mistakes.
I've read that MTA is currently building a connection from Long Island into Grand Central Terminal. This connection will extend from from the vicinity of Harold interlocking, in a tunnel under Sunnyside yard, through the (unused) lower level of the 63rd St. tunnel, down a new tunnel under Park Avenue, and into a new terminal directly underneath the current GCT.
At the same time, NJT is considering a new tunnel under the Hudson to Manhattan. At one point, one of the "alternatives" for this tunnel called for a connection through a new set of platforms beneath the current Penn station, and through a tunnel to new platforms beneath Grand Central. However, this alternative was scrapped in favor of one that terminates at Penn. It would have been difficult to construct and no doubt expensive, but one of the biggest reasons the idea was abandoned was that MTA was heavily opposed to the plan, since their connection involves new platforms beneath GCT as well.
My question as an outsider to the NYC area, why couldn't the organizations cooperate, and share the new facilities beneath both Penn and Grand Central? That would give NJT, LIRR, and MTN much better access to both stations, relieve congestion at Penn, and give the organizations the capability to run through trains onto each others' networks if that ever became necessary. It seems like a no brainer that this sort of connectivity should be the long term goal, but is there some sort of issue (related to politics or engineering) that makes cooperation between NJT and MTA unlikely?
I've read that MTA is currently building a connection from Long Island into Grand Central Terminal. This connection will extend from from the vicinity of Harold interlocking, in a tunnel under Sunnyside yard, through the (unused) lower level of the 63rd St. tunnel, down a new tunnel under Park Avenue, and into a new terminal directly underneath the current GCT.
At the same time, NJT is considering a new tunnel under the Hudson to Manhattan. At one point, one of the "alternatives" for this tunnel called for a connection through a new set of platforms beneath the current Penn station, and through a tunnel to new platforms beneath Grand Central. However, this alternative was scrapped in favor of one that terminates at Penn. It would have been difficult to construct and no doubt expensive, but one of the biggest reasons the idea was abandoned was that MTA was heavily opposed to the plan, since their connection involves new platforms beneath GCT as well.
My question as an outsider to the NYC area, why couldn't the organizations cooperate, and share the new facilities beneath both Penn and Grand Central? That would give NJT, LIRR, and MTN much better access to both stations, relieve congestion at Penn, and give the organizations the capability to run through trains onto each others' networks if that ever became necessary. It seems like a no brainer that this sort of connectivity should be the long term goal, but is there some sort of issue (related to politics or engineering) that makes cooperation between NJT and MTA unlikely?
