5 replies to this topic

[Sloan]

NEW YORK — Advocates of a one-seat ride to Midtown for Orange and Rockland counties are lobbying the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to commit to Amtrak's Gateway project in its 2015-19 capital plan.

In a letter to MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast, state and federal lawmakers urged him to include funding toward the construction of a rail loop in Secaucus, N.J., that would allow Port Jervis and Pascack Valley line trains to travel directly to Penn Station through Amtrak's proposed new tunnel.

http://www.recordonl...8310312/-1/NEWS

[KevinKorell]

With the expected completion date of 2030 as indicated, this generation is basically being asked to pave the way for easier travel by our children and grandchildren. How long the project will take to completion may be holding up some support for the overall project. The so-called Secaucus loop will take trains far out of their way to make that loop, which eventually will have them pass through the Secaucus Junction facility twice -- once on the lower level and once on the upper level. But the whole loop is moot if the tunnel and platform improvements that provide the extra capacity are not yet in place. The track connections that will result in this loop will be relatively easier and less time consuming to build than the tunnel itself, so again there won't be any imminent need for them.

[jis]

This would indicate that the idea of putting a commuter rail line on any new Tappan Zee Bridge is then dead for good.

[AlanB]

This would indicate that the idea of putting a commuter rail line on any new Tappan Zee Bridge is then dead for good.

I was pretty sure that idea was already dead. After all, they have started construction on the new bridge and I'm not aware of any provisions for any form of rail on the bridge.

Which IMHO remains a huge mistake on the part of our Governor and others who allowed this to go forward without the possibility. Even with a loop in Secaucus, rail over the Tap would still be a good idea. The current bridge only adds one lane in each direction more than what is available currently in the non-rush hour direction. The rush hour direction has the same number of lanes as the new bridge.

So the new bridge really only solves the problem that the current one is falling down. It will do nothing to improve traffic congestion in the area, which is significant.

[KevinKorell]

Is a rail line over the Tappan Zee really contingent on capacity through Secaucus and into Penn Station? I pictured it as a spur from, or a connection with, the Metro North Hudson Line at Tarrytown or the Harlem Line at White Plains. Those lines go into Grand Central. On the west side of the river, I figured it would somehow connect with the Port Jervis or Pascack Valley Lines. But the purpose of a rail line over the bridge is to ease congestion on the bridge itself while forming an east-west rail connection between Westchester and Rockland Counties. Since there are frequent trains into New York City from the points such a line would serve in Westchester, why would anyone go over the Tappan Zee, and then down the Port Jervis Line, into New Jersey and over NJ TRANSIT to Secaucus, and then into New York? So for the purpose of something over the bridge, acting as a connector between the existing Harlem & Hudson Lines on the east side, and the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Lines on the west side, would light rail suffice? It's better than nothing.

[BillMagee]

Each of the twin spans of the new bridge will have a 20-foot wide inside (left) shoulder that is dedicated for future transit use. That shoulder area will be structurally capable of supporting a transit build up to and including standard commuter rail. Initially, that section of each bridge will simply be a hashed striped closed lane for emergency vehicle access. Whether future projects will use the transit lanes for bus or rail is anyone's guess, but structurally the bridge will not be a constraint.