So obviously, my question is why they did not do this in the first iteration with the whole takeover of the Farley Post Office. Perhaps the first iteration was the inspiration for this iteration? Not sure.
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THE ARC Tunnel termination was a kludge at best, and Christie at least saw through it in time. Note how it immediately shut down as soon as New Jersey lost interestâŚ
Most of the argument around the Penn Station expansion for Gateway is a politically-rigged real-estate scam. There is no practical solution for NYP that does not involve some kind of through-running, even if it only involves moving consists expediently to Sunnyside or Hudson Yards or whatever as soon as they discharge passengers, to clear the inadequate platforms for the next train. Building twice the number of stub-end platforms to be fed by what was supposed to be part of a 220mph spine is just dumb on a colossal level; doing it in that area of Manhattan with typical New York construction entities is daft⌠redesigning Gateway as two meandering tunnels paralleling the North River tunnels is incredibly irresponsible as well as shortsighted, even if one assumes no significant acceleration and deceleration is âneededâ between NYP, Secaucus/Lautenmund, and Newark â you might as well say a 20mph restriction to save money on Dock Bridge is justified because everything is stopping or coming from platforms nearly adjacent.
Iâve said for many years that a big part of the solution is relatively easy in theory: use third-rail pickups that are automatically compatible with both underrunning and overrunning contact, and while at it make them âpredictiveâ of gaps so that higher running speeds on DC are practical (this would have been done with lasers and ultrasound all those decades ago, and itâs only gotten more practicable since). While we acknowledge that the ALP45DPs are alarmingly expensive for the âthrough-runningâ opportunities they provide (I think theyâre down to one Manhattan Direct trip on what was supposed to become the NJT line extended to provide the ABE service, which would assuredly not terminate in Newark or Secaucus!) the logical dual-mode-lite installation on something on the scale of a DM32 replacement (which I expect would be on a Charger platform) would give you any combination of electric capability plus easy diesel transition â and all the technology would then be in the way toward debugging and costing-down to implement punctuated electrification at lower cost and risk âelsewhereâ.
The other thing Penn needs is better, and more, motorstairs between halls and platforms. Where the undisclosed fun comes in is that itâs fairly clear to âyou, me, and the fellow behind the treeâ that moyorstairs are not ADA-compliant; those narrow platforms (and the train-hall areas above them) are not very amenable to usable elevators for disabled passengers; and that it is not politically ,or, I grudgingly agree, morally and ethically) desirable to limit disabled passengers to certain cars in trains or parts of cars that are adjacent to elevators or other reasonable accommodation.
It has not been immediately clear to me how the stub-end tracks as provided in the ARC Tunnel effort, and now shoehorned into the real-estate scam, deal with this concern, particularly with circulation above platform level.