14 replies to this topic

[Neo]

It's amazing to look at NYC transit maps!

[Cotuit]

donaltopablo, on Aug 10 2003, 10:23 PM, said:

Your not lying Style.  I actually think just recently started working on the first expansion is like 40 years!  New line out to queens.

They are building a LIRR connection from Sunnyside Queens to Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central is currently MetroNorth only.

Two other somewhat likely projects are extension of the 7 line to the West Side and the Second Avenue Subway.

[turlough]

Dang

[Cotuit]

donaltopablo, on Aug 16 2003, 08:19 PM, said:

Cotuit you seen any maps illustrating the upcoming extensions/expansions?

East Side Access Project (LIRR)

PB is working hard to ease the Manhattan commute. The firm’s underground engineering design for a new commuter rail segment has reached the 50 percent completion mark.

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), the world’s busiest commuter railroad, has only one stop in Manhattan, Penn Station, which is operating at capacity. And nearly one half of the commuters who ride into Penn Station are actually destined for offices on the East Side, directly across town.

PB, in joint venture, is providing tunnel engineering consulting services to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on the East Side Access Project. Through this project, the LIRR will fulfill its goal of three decades: a new railroad line between the borough of Queens and Manhattan’s East Side. When the project is open for revenue service in 2012, it will extend the LIRR into Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal, saving hundreds of thousands of commuters at least 30 minutes a day and easing congestion at Penn Station.

Westward-bound trains will pass from Queens to Manhattan through the lower
level of the existing two-level tunnel under the East River at 63rd Street. The upper level of the 63rd Street Tunnel is used by the city’s subway system. The lower level was intended for the LIRR but has not been used because there are no connections. The East Side Access project will provide these connections by building tunnels on both sides of the East River.

It is a complex and extensive program.
“Virtually every kind of tunnel engineering is involved,” says PB’s Project Director, Jerry Forman. He notes that there will be new soft ground tunnels in Queens that will connect to the east end of the existing 63rd Street Tunnel and, under Manhattan, two new caverns 45 meters (140 feet) below street level at Grand Central Terminal. New hard rock tunnels will connect the caverns to the west end of the existing 63rd Street Tunnel. The caverns, excavated from hard rock, will each house two platforms and four tracks in a stacked configuration that will constitute the LIRR Terminal at Grand Central. In addition, there will be major modifications to Grand Central itself in order to accommodate LIRR operations.

Some four and one half years into the $5.3 billion project, the largest in the MTA’s history, PB is making timely progress. Mike Della Posta, Package Manager for the Tunnel Boring Drives, recently completed the design for the Manhattan tunnel boring, which is a key element of PB’s contract. According to Mike, the design was predicated on noise issues and community concerns.

“We’ve tried to make the tunneling as unobtrusive as possible,” he says. With minimal drill and blast construction, all underground debris taken out via the existing 63rd Street Tunnel to Queens and the two 7-meter (21.5-foot) tunnel boring machines (TBM) grinding rock away 45 meters (140 feet) below ground, Manhattanites will likely have little exposure to the complex engineering taking place below city streets. Even if residents do experience noise and vibration from the TBMs, it will be a short-lived inconvenience.

“The TBMs have an advance rate of 15 meters (47 feet) a day so that they’ll be directly under an average property for only two days,” says Mike. “In terms of noise, safety and efficiency, TBMs are the only way to get the job done.” Construction is expected to begin shortly on the 7,600 meters (25,000 feet) of tunnel in Manhattan.

Most other elements of the project are also expected to transition into the construction phase this year. PB will be staying the course, providing consulting services during construction for the tunnel engineering portion of the project. “It’s a vast undertaking,” says Jerry. “The East Side Access Project is essentially a new railroad line.”

From Parsons Brinkerhoff's website.

[Cotuit]

Second Avenue Subway alignment from the MTA.

SAS Alignment (pdf)
More from the MTAs website

[Cotuit]

7 Train West Side Extension:

[turlough]

I was watching TLC and they were talking about the NYC subways and they are doing a a major remodeling program there even throwing subway car off the south carolina coast that they don't use no more it's pretty cool to see all the things there doing in NYC

[turlough]

they said it's going to be a man made reef or here just read this
NYC Subways cars dumped off South Carolina Coast