Metro-North into NYP long range plan

[Eyegor]

Quick news piece I stumbled across. Hopefully they would keep some Hudson lines into GCT. Having the option of either station depending on which train can be a benefit. Of course linking MTA with Amtrak in NYP is a bigger bonus if it ever happens. Article also talks about building a new lower level of GCT and bringing the LIRR into it first.

Courtesy of MidHudsonnews.com

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2014/March/28/MN_PennSta-28Mar14.html

 

[jis]

Don't worry, Hudson Line will be mostly to GCT. They may put in a train per hour, and maybe a few more during rush hours, though finding slots in Penn Station will take some work. LIRR merely releasing slots on the north side of the station does not directly help create a slot in the south side where the Hudson Line trains would arrive via the Empire Connection.

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[MattW]

It's too bad they can't build a connection to the Empire connection from the upper tracks, then they could just run the trains through although that would require either using the diesel fleet, or taking M8s away from the New Haven Line. Of course it doesn't eliminate capacity concerns, but that's better than trying to move trains from the upper tracks to the lower tracks and vice versa.

 

[Andrew]

Don't worry, Hudson Line will be mostly to GCT. They may put in a train per hour, and maybe a few more during rush hours, though finding slots in Penn Station will take some work. LIRR merely releasing slots on the north side of the station does not directly help create a slot in the south side where the Hudson Line trains would arrive via the Empire Connection.

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But won't LIRR service to Grand Central Terminal free up slots for Metro North Hudson line to use tracks 3--4?

 

[MattW]

The problem there is two-fold I understand. For one, the LIRR uses the "upper" tracks, I think 16 to 21 usually, while NJT uses from 1 up to about 13 or so. Right now, the Empire Connection can only be served by tracks 5-8 so a Metro North train from the Tunnels Seeking to head out the Empire Connection would have to cross the entire plant at some point. Even once A interlocking is reconfigured, a move from the LIRR tracks into the Empire Connection still requires blocking all the western station tracks and leads.

The second issue is political. The LIRR by all accounts is not too keen on giving up its Penn Station slots at all regardless of the physical attributes of the station. From their standpoint, I can't blame them, ridership from Long Island I believe is still growing so even if they serve Grand Central, it won't necessarily be an even swap (if they divert 5 trains to GCT, it doesn't mean they won't also use the 5 slots into Penn).

 

[afigg]

Quick news piece I stumbled across. Hopefully they would keep some Hudson lines into GCT. Having the option of either station depending on which train can be a benefit. Of course linking MTA with Amtrak in NYP is a bigger bonus if it ever happens. Article also talks about building a new lower level of GCT and bringing the LIRR into it first.

Metro-North access to NYP on the Hudson line is well off into the future. New Haven line access to NYP via the Hell Gate is the higher priority because the plan is to build 4 MNRR stations on the line to provide transit access to the east Bronx. MTA/MNRR has a webpage with presentations and documents: Penn Station Access Study. However, running Metro-North trains over the Hell Gate is not going to happen until after the East Side Access project is completed and LIRR is running trains to GCT. Which could be 2020, 2021, 2022, pick a year (the FTA and MTA have different opinions on when ESA might really be finished).

The idea is not to run all Hudson or New Haven trains to NYP, but only a subset to provide direct access to NYP and the subway lines at NYP for commuters and to improve transit access to the east Bronx.

Under Gov. Cuomo, the MTA is applying to use Sandy mitigation funds for the Penn Station access project on the grounds that it will provide an alternate route in case the main Metro-North line in the Bronx or Manhattan gets blocked by weather. I find that to be a rather dubious justification to tap the Sandy Mitigation funds. The MTA can fund Penn Station Access through their normal process.