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Discussion relating to the past and present operations of the NYC Subway, PATH, and Staten Island Railway (SIRT).

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 #1516803  by ajp
 
according to Trains Newswire the "re" construction of the shuttle will start Aug. 16
with mentioning everything in the original posted article
and talking about more stairways on the GCT side
 #1553077  by STrRedWolf
 
flexliner wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 9:23 am Anyone have photos or news of the shuttle progress? After the re-do will there be a crossover from track one to four? Or will one still connect to the lex and four to 7ave?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
They're usually good at posting stuff on their Flickr page, but right now... nothing.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtaphotos
 #1553281  by Silverliner II
 
flexliner wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 9:23 am After the re-do will there be a crossover from track one to four? Or will one still connect to the lex and four to 7ave?
Just as a friendly guess.... I'm betting the crossover will be saying good-bye. I've not seen if the tunnel configuration even permits additional crossovers all the way across, but either way, with each track having a link to the rest of the system, I'd call it a good guess it's a goner.
 #1553459  by STrRedWolf
 
Silverliner II wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 11:28 pm Just as a friendly guess.... I'm betting the crossover will be saying good-bye. I've not seen if the tunnel configuration even permits additional crossovers all the way across, but either way, with each track having a link to the rest of the system, I'd call it a good guess it's a goner.
It's a good guess. The crossover is only between 1 and 3. Yanking out 3 and making wider island platforms means yanking the interlock.

But then... it's really not needed. It's all IRT track, going from 1-2-3 to 4-5-6. There's a few other places that you can do the crossover.
 #1553484  by STrRedWolf
 
A late update: I was going through the 2016 edition of "The Tracks of the NYC Subway" and had forgotten on page 67, they had the plans.

Instead of taking it out, they shortened track 3 into a storage track at Grand Central... and installed a second connection so you can go 1-3-4 at Grand Central.

So I'm possibly wrong there.
 #1555604  by checkthedoorlight
 
Was requested to come out of lurk mode to provide the proper updates on the shuttle reconfiguration.

It is still a work in progress. Tracks 1 and 3 are currently in service while work is being performed on track 4. Some of the new signals are installed and are "bagged". At some point later this year or early next year there is going to be another 9 month complete shut down to do switch and signal work. Supposedly these new signals are going to be under CBTC control. At the end of this project, track 3 will become a spur/storage track, while tracks 1 and 4 have the capacity for 6 car trains (will eventually be 6 car R188 units, may actually be 6 car single-unit R62A until CBTC is up and running). There will be new switches (not hand throws anymore) which will allow trains to move between 1 3 and 4 track at the Grand Central end. There will be a brand new platform installed at the Times Square end, covering the 2 and 3 track roadbeds. This platform is just east of the current platform, and will be straight and wide, and will have a new transfer to the 6th Ave IND line. Both 1 and 4 track will end in bumper blocks on the Times Square end, and the old tracks will be covered over to make an expanded entrance/mezzanine. The Grand Central end already has some new exits which are completed but still boarded up until 1 Vanderbilt's lobby opens to the public. Note that this new entrance optimistically has signs for LIRR! The rest of the GC mezzanine was completely reconfigured and got a second elevator (which unfortunately resulted in the loss of the compass tilework) Estimated completion of everything is 2022.
 #1555622  by andegold
 
Wow, thanks for this update. That's much easier to understand the scope of the project than what I've been reading here and elsewhere. The 42nd street shift east I'm sure will result in a lot of whining similar to every time NJ Transit pushes Princeton further away from Nassau Street but it sounds like human traffic/crowd control on the west end of the complex will be improved even more than just because of the widened center platform.

I thought it had been mentioned here that the connection to the 1/2/3 would remain and the two shuttle trains would effectively be serviced out of different yards. If I'm reading this correctly there will be bumper blocks on the west end and a complete severing of that connection replaced by full crossovers on the east end and all trains being serviced out of whatever yard serves the 4/5/6.
 #1555647  by checkthedoorlight
 
The west side connection will be severed, and all trains will be serviced out of Livonia Yard via the Lexington line. I'm not sure if that will remain the case once they switch over to R188s, which will be needed if and when CBTC get implemented.

You have no idea what a pain it has been to transfer shuttle trains off the west side connector from track 4. Due to the foot bridge that goes over the track, multiple departments must be present to take it down and put it back up, and the TA can't wait to be rid of that chore. Even a transfer off of track 3 is complicated, due to having to relocate the track 1 train to Times Square and using the hand throw switches, which means it can only be done between 0000-0500.

I neglected to mention in my last post that the main reason this project is happening is because the current Times Square platform is a disaster. It is not ADA compliant, it uses gap fillers (and once those act up, there goes service), and it can be confusing for the customers which train to board, particularly when track 4 is in service, where all foot traffic must go through a narrow area. The new platform will solve all of these problems.
 #1555751  by GojiMet86
 
checkthedoorlight wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 11:53 am The west side connection will be severed, and all trains will be serviced out of Livonia Yard via the Lexington line. I'm not sure if that will remain the case once they switch over to R188s, which will be needed if and when CBTC get implemented.

You have no idea what a pain it has been to transfer shuttle trains off the west side connector from track 4. Due to the foot bridge that goes over the track, multiple departments must be present to take it down and put it back up, and the TA can't wait to be rid of that chore. Even a transfer off of track 3 is complicated, due to having to relocate the track 1 train to Times Square and using the hand throw switches, which means it can only be done between 0000-0500.

I neglected to mention in my last post that the main reason this project is happening is because the current Times Square platform is a disaster. It is not ADA compliant, it uses gap fillers (and once those act up, there goes service), and it can be confusing for the customers which train to board, particularly when track 4 is in service, where all foot traffic must go through a narrow area. The new platform will solve all of these problems.
Are these R188 coming from the 7 then?
 #1555761  by photobug56
 
If the 1,2,3 connection is eliminated, then track one to the Lex #6 will be the only way out of there? Just wondering, with only 2 tracks across going forward, how will track '2' transfer to track 1 when it's time to switch trains out via the Lex?

Related questions - the public posts about what they are doing are both vague and circular. One of my interests is handicapped access at GCT, which currently (if you can get on and off a shuttle) requires going all the way from the shuttle to the Lex station and hoping to find working elevators to where you are going, easily going a block or more out of your way. How will this work when the project is finished? My own personal issue - I can use escalators OK, but steps can be hard. Will there finally be escalators from the shuttle concourse up into GCT? And are there any documents to see beyond the pretty art that MTA posted, that will give a good understanding of the project?
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