Jeff Smith wrote:I'm not sure if it's been addressed in the thread, but at the Gateway topic in the Amtrak forum there is talk of including a transit option in the proposed Amtrak tunnels. I'm not sure if a connection at the tunnel box is physically feasible for the 7 given the elevation and location of the tail tracks, etc.
It certainly would facilitate a host of possible connections to the East Side, MNRR/GCT, LIRR/ESA, etc.
I'm sorry, if tax dollars will be going to extend the 7 line, I think they will be much better spent tunneling to New Jersey than to Penn Station. I have made the NYP-GCT transfer by subway going between NJ and CT several times. I find it cumbersome, but it is feasible. Moreover, I think that improvements that are already funded or likely to be funded soon will obviate the need for many West Side-East Side transfers necessary and make them more bearable in the future for those who have still to make them. First, East Side Access will take East Side-bound LIRR customers off the subways connecting NYP to the East Side. Second, ESA will also open up slots for New Haven Line and maybe some Hudson Line trains to come to NYP, taking even more customers who today transfer via subway out of the mix. Third, recently funded improvements to the GCT subway complex should improve circulation there. All the above should make lives easier for NJT passengers going to/from the East Side and Harlem Line customers going to/from the West Side, which are the biggest travel segments who will still have to use the subways for onward connections once East Side Access and Penn Station Access are in place.
Are West Side/NYP-East Side/GCT subway transfers a pain today? Yes. Would the public dollars required to bring the 7 train to NYP be offset by the relief it brings? I am unconvinced. While bringing the 7 around to NYP would open a one-seat NYP-GCT transfer, said ride would take a circuitous route. I am open to being persuaded otherwise, but I don't see it saving much time over today's options, much less providing incremental benefit over the travel options that should be available once East Side Access and Penn Station Access are in place. In contrast, rapid transit serving the upper Hoboken/Weehawken general area and Secaucus will be a massive help in decongesting Manhattan-"Gold Coast" travel, which Gateway and East Side Access and Penn Station Access will all be unable to do.
Long story short, I will not lose sleep if the 7 to NYP remains a line on a planning map.