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Unless you are among the commuters whose souls are crushed there every workday, it’s hard to know what a dreadful place Penn Station is, how the waiting areas are mosh pits, the platforms are cattle chutes, the low ceiling tiles are encrusted with grimy stalactites and, in heavy rains, water pours from the ceiling into rolling garbage binsGotta say, she has been consistent with her view for the past 50 years. Also gotta say. the Dolans certainly have "chips on the table and ready to put them in play" both at City Hall and up in Albany - and they want MSG right where it is.
Penn Station proposals fail to recognize unique opportunity to improve regional transitNot sure I agree with a couple of the premises. One, crossing traffic is tough to avoid given the fact that trains are coming from three different directions. Two, through running is not impossible, just difficult. The Harold project will help solve that. It's arriving and departing traffic, and the west side yard that are tough.
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Understanding Penn’s capacity limitations (and how to solve them) is critical to a good design. They exist in three forms: passenger crowding, train traffic, and systematic connectivity issues to the rest of the region. On a passenger level, overcrowding is mitigated through staged boarding, or letting passengers onto the tracks only after trains arrive and unload. This produces chaotic lines and rushed transfers, especially in the area of the station that NJ Transit uses. Images of Governor Cuomo and PAU’s proposals suggest that the platform width and vertical access would both remain unchanged in the new Penn Station. Preserving existing stairs to the platform level, as PAU proposes, is not enough; Penn needs more vertical access. Rather than working to preserve inadequate stairwells to the platform level, we should be fighting for more stairs and escalators.
On a track level, the station is also hopelessly congested. Incoming trains often have to wait in tunnels for ten minutes or more as other trains exit the station. This is because the station is operated primarily as a terminal rather than a through station. Trains must cross each other as they enter and leave the station. Through-running avoids this problem by scheduling eastbound traffic on southern tracks and westbound traffic on northern tracks. Each train could enter the station, unload and load passengers, and continue on without ever crossing oncoming traffic.
Penn’s present configuration makes through-running impossible because only two tracks connect to Penn from New Jersey, while four tracks connect to the station from Queens. Amtrak’s current Gateway proposal would remedy this by building two additional tracks between Penn and New Jersey.
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Gilbert B Norman wrote:As Mr. Backshop immrdiately notes, Gray Lady speaks:And down on the platforms - it's no picnic. Ever take a look "up." If you do you may get some stuff in your eyes instead of just on your hair. It's a grimy cavern down there and as much as Amtrak has tried to put some lipstick on the escalator chutes, you know the rest of the story! The 8th Ave. subway pounds through and shakes the dust and dirt pretty well! To think this is the "gateway" to one of the "greatest cities" in the country (and to some the world) - this is not a good introduction if you step OFF the train. And during rush hour, you better make sure you stay on the platform and keep moving in the mosh pile. Look out for that other "incoming train" on the adjacent track! Why the depths of NYP couldn't have been more like 30th Street Station is somewhat baffling to me.
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Unless you are among the commuters whose souls are crushed there every workday, it’s hard to know what a dreadful place Penn Station is, how the waiting areas are mosh pits, the platforms are cattle chutes, the low ceiling tiles are encrusted with grimy stalactites and, in heavy rains, water pours from the ceiling into rolling garbage binsGotta say, she has been consistent with her view for the past 50 years. Also gotta say. the Dolans certainly have "chips on the table and ready to put them in play" both at City Hall and up in Albany - and they want MSG right where it is.
