sullivan1985 wrote:andegold wrote:Sully what you've suggested is what I've been thinking for years. Raise the platforms. Use a long sloped ramp at the end to meet the concourse. You might lose between a quarter and a half car length on the east end depending on how the ramp is graded. So what. You'd have high level exiting and ADA complaince. How exactly would this have any effect on the historical character of the station? Nothing would have to be done to the height of the canopy. What would be lost at the foot of the canopy support beams? Rust? Properly restore/rebuild them and put new fascia on the bottom to match the original construction. It would add usefulness and life to the station for the cost of pouring concrete.
Exactly. Put the ramp in the center and have a pair of steps on each side of the ramp to accommodate the 1/4 doors of the ML cars. Biggest pain become the support columns in the sheds at the far east end where the ramp would be. The rest are not an issue.
I've illustrated (poorly) in the attached image of my idea.
The canopy is high enough where you would still not have to worry about hitting your head on the roof or coming near contact with the wire. The existing platforms in Hoboken are a disaster and change their height on some tracks multiple times. It's one thing to be historic, but to look like garbage and hinder operations at the same time is not acceptable.
Sully, if I were asked to put forward plans for how to give Hoboken Terminal ADA accessible platforms this is exactly the way I would go about doing it. Now we just need to find the money, the political capital, the will, oh and a team of over-priced consultants to do this job which could be handled just as easily using NJT personnel who are desperate for work. Isn't this company great? Maybe you and I should go into the consulting business Sully?
To loosely quote Capt. Jack Aubrey from the movie Master and Commander: "NJT runs a railroad, not a private yacht! WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR YOUR DAMNED HOBBIES, SIR!"
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