How New York Can Implement Through-Running at Penn Station in the First Half of the 21st Century
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Speakers:
- Karim Ahmed, Senior Technical Advisor to ReThinkNYC
- Dr. Robert Paaswell, Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering Emeritus and Director Emeritus of the University Transportation Research Center at the City College of New York
- Samuel Turvey, Chairperson of ReThinkNYC
Implementing through-running trains via Penn Station represents a once-in-a-century opportunity to transform connectivity in the New York region, just as the subway did. It will benefit the region’s economy, environment, and quality of life.
Many leading proponents of the Gateway Tunnels project miss one of its greatest benefits: the ability make commuter operations through-running. The Gateway Tunnels should be seen as much more than a redundancy effort. By providing four Hudson River tunnels that connect through Penn Station to four East River tunnels, they will bring symmetry that allows through-running.
As London did with Thameslink, New York can adaptively reuse Penn Station’s existing legacy through-running capabilities and track layout to send New Jersey trains to Long Island and vice versa, with many other variations on this theme. This proven strategy will require substantial system-integration effort, but ReThinkNYC has put forward a detailed plan to do it cost effectively by mid-century. You can learn more in this talk.
