Comments on: Regional Rail for New York City – Part II

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 03:23:58 +0000

No, two. The only four-tracking of existing lines that are currently less than four tracks, beyond passing segments, is the North River Tunnels and the LIRR Main Line to Hicksville.

By: Michael Schaeffer

Michael Schaeffer — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:16:25 +0000

Is the Staten Island-Grand Central tunnel four tracks?

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:38:41 +0000

Two sources. First, I looked at the ridership numbers on the existing branches that make up each line, and added them together. For example, see here for New Jersey Transit's suburban stations; there are also equivalent numbers for Metro-North and the LIRR. For many lines, this is considered the sole source of ridership. Second, there's data on commute patterns as of 2000, on the level of both counties and towns - see here. I used this to get a rough estimate of expected ridership on lines that would see new service, such as the Staten Island Railway, or on lines where through-service would serve a large commuter market. That's where my 750,000 users (=1,500,000 daily boardings) figure comes from.

By: JMBX

JMBX — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:14:39 +0000

Alon, great post and love your ides. Just wondering if you could tell me where you got the ridership figures for the individual commuter lines. Thanks

By: Adirondacker12800

Adirondacker12800 — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:11:27 +0000

Again if I remember correctly, it’s high enough from 65th Street to Maspeth where they want to put one of the intermodal terminals.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:49:03 +0000

I’m pretty sure the overpasses all over the LIRR are too low for double-stacks.

By: Adirondacker12800

Adirondacker12800 — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:42:39 +0000

You then bump into the loading gauge of the East River tunnels. If I remember correctly they are going for double stacks. Also if I remember correctly they are aiming for fairly busy which is why the alternatives like using more car floats and the Hell’s Gate bridge isn’t an option. The point of the tunnel is to stabilize or marginally reduce truck traffic across Manhattan through 2030, 2040. You aren’t going to do that with three freights a night through Penn Station. …. New York City garbage alone will fill 200 cars a day…

By: Harrison Fletcher

Harrison Fletcher — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:31:38 +0000

I think this is a good long term plan, just what this city needs

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:25:27 +0000

They could always build ARC to Plate C standards. The incremental cost is much, much, much less than the cost of a new harbor crossing.

By: Adirondacker12800

Adirondacker12800 — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 01:36:32 +0000

North River tunnels are too small for today’s freight. Even off hours it would be moving right in the middle of the country’s busiest and third busiest passenger railroads. Not a good idea. The Narrows, while it looks good on paper, doesn’t have any rail on the Brooklyn side. The existing freight ROW points more or less directly at the freight ROW on the other side of the harbor. It’s out of the way of passenger service. Port Authority’s studies concluded that Jersey City to Brooklyn would be cheapest.