New York City - Transit News

[Busy Bee]

^That's order of magnitude worse than any poor condition the system was allowed to get to even in the late '70s/early 80's.

[mrnyc]

gateway gets rolling --




First Gateway contract awarded to drill new Hudson River rail tunnels through the Palisades

Updated: Aug. 02, 2024
By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com


The first tunnel boring contract to drill the first new Hudson River rail tunnels in 115 years through the Palisades was awarded for $465 million by the Gateway Development Commission Thursday.

The contract was awarded to Schiavone, Dragados Lane Joint Venture, which was selected from five firms that competed for the contract.


more:
https://www.nj.com/traffic/2024/08/f...palisades.html

https://www.enr.com/articles/59066-s...tunnel-project

[Nexis4Jersey]

The last few months of Subway Photos that i've taken


50th Street











Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street station











Chambers Street








York Street











East Broadway





Sheepshead Bay





Bleeker Street

[mrnyc]

^ very nice —



***



abandoned subway station at park south and 18st —


https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-K41...VhMHN4M2Njeg==

[mrnyc]

gov hochul finds a little $ to do second ave utility work —



Work to resume on Second Avenue Subway extension after $54M cash infusion from Hochul

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on July 30, 2024

more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/second-...fusion-hochul/

[mrnyc]

yikes be careful out there —


https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-QM8...RvMjA2ZTM4aw==

[mrnyc]

excellent --



Bronx
City Council set to approve Bronx Metro-North rezoning to build housing around new stations

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on August 6, 2024



The City Council is set to approve an ambitious rezoning proposal to develop thousands of new housing units around new Metro-North stations being built in the Bronx.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/city-co...orth-rezoning/


Commuters wait to board a New Haven Line Metro-North train in July 2023. File Photo by Aliya Schneider

[mrnyc]

meh -- sho me the money --




Hochul ‘massaging’ proposal in Albany to replace lost congestion pricing money

By Ben BrachfeldPosted on August 6, 2024


More than two months after pausing congestion pricing, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday she is “massaging” a proposal through Albany to replace the money lost from the Manhattan toll freeze — though she is still vague on the details of how else to raise $15 billion for mass transit improvements.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/hochul-...roposal-money/


A bus traveling under an unactivated congestion pricing toll gantry in Manhattan. Photo by Dean Moses

[k1052]

Sources in Albany say there is nothing actually going on and given that she lies so readily about this topic I'm not inclined to believe the governor. The revenue so far will not be replaced and if it remains this way the MTA will have to eat massive cuts to all their projects and lose out on billions in federal funding. Long term damage to the system as needed signal and rolling stock upgrades are deferred indefinitely will spiral into new years of bad times for riders.

[Busy Bee]

This is kinda out there but I'd like to see the entire regions transit network partially funded out of federal general revenues as an acknowledgment of the absolutely vital special economic zone NYC truly is. Other global alpha cities are absolutely showered with national investment, but New York City, being the countries most populous, dynamic and economic powerhouse but NOT the countries seat of government does not benefit from that arrangement and the entire funding mechanism is a state burden. Imagine what NYC would look like if transit was supported like a London, Paris or Tokyo.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

This is kinda out there but I'd like to see the entire regions transit network partially funded out of federal general revenues as an acknowledgment of the absolutely vital special economic zone NYC truly is. Other global alpha cities are absolutely showered with national investment, but New York City, being the countries most populous, dynamic and economic powerhouse but NOT the countries seat of government does not benefit from that arrangement and the entire funding mechanism is a state burden. Imagine what NYC would look like if transit was supported like
a London, Paris or Tokyo.

The problem would be getting funding for New York projects from the red state anti-transit (anti-anything) congressmen. UK, France, and Japan have somewhat of a benefit (compared to the US) of being smaller countries with a less spread out and less polarized population. The fuqued up part is that 7 of the 10 states most dependent on the federal government were Republican-voting, with the average red state receiving $1.24 per dollar spent.

[Nouvellecosse]

I would argue that greater DC has a metro system that's larger and more impressive than those in any of its peer cities of similar size, even including other old dense NE cities like Boston, and Philadelphia. And the GOP weren't able to block that. So I think it's safe to say that if NYC were the capital, the same thing would apply. The transit system it would have would compare to its current system the way DC's system compares to Boston or Philly.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

I would argue that greater DC has a metro system that's larger and more impressive than those in any of its peer cities of similar size, even including other old dense NE cities like Boston, and Philadelphia. And the GOP weren't able to block that. So I think it's safe to say that if NYC were the capital, the same thing would apply. The transit system it would have would compare to its current system the way DC's system compares to Boston or Philly.

A huge portion of DC's metro was conceived in the 1960s/1970s. Congress can barely pass a spending bill now-a-days and it has only become increasingly worse. Just look how long it took to get funding for the crucial Gateway Tunnels from New Jersey to Manhattan, especially if you count it's previous failed iteration (ARC). If only people could at least vote for transit friendly elected officials despite differences, but, unfortunately most car loving Americans don't care about the issue. Sorry for the negativity , I guess I could at least be hopeful that things can change.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

This is kinda out there but I'd like to see the entire regions transit network partially funded out of federal general revenues as an acknowledgment of the absolutely vital special economic zone NYC truly is. Other global alpha cities are absolutely showered with national investment, but New York City, being the countries most populous, dynamic and economic powerhouse but NOT the countries seat of government does not benefit from that arrangement and the entire funding mechanism is a state burden. Imagine what NYC would look like if transit was supported like a London, Paris or Tokyo.

screw uncle sam and red states, i would settle for ny, nj and ct tri-state metro to have one consolidated and unified transit system, instead of the ridiculous arbitary legacy fiefdoms we have now.

[Busy Bee]

^ Regional consolidation under a hypothetical tri-state MTA is another issue. What i am suggesting is we get special federal funding because NY is special in a way that is unmatched economically and culturally and is uncomparible to other US cities. Basically a status as strategic special economic zone that accounts for a big chunk of national GDP and that's before you get into its cultural importance. As far as the rest of the world is concerned NYC is America's capital city. Yet it isn't treated as such. Lessening the burden of funding it's vital transit systems would go a long way in acknowleding the benefit it provides and an investment in ensuring its continued growth. Any other nation and this would be priority #1.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

^ Regional consolidation under a hypothetical tri-state MTA is another issue. What i am suggesting is we get special federal funding because NY is special in a way that is unmatched economically and culturally and is uncomparible to other US cities. Basically a status as strategic special economic zone that accounts for a big chunk of national GDP and that's before you get into its cultural importance. As far as the rest of the world is concerned NYC is America's capital city. Yet it isn't treated as such. Lessening the burden of funding it's vital transit systems would go a long way in acknowleding the benefit it provides and an investment in ensuring its continued growth. Any other nation and this would be priority #1.

funding and administration would be infinitely less burdened with consolidation.


also, like denver or chicago, nyc is the big dog in its state, it gets the majority of funding attention for everything. so at least let's be glad nys isnt ohio, california or texas, which have lots of yapping jaws for state (and fed) monies.

[mrnyc]

now, err, umm, about those old east river tunnels —



Amtrak's rebuild of busted East River tunnels could strain LIRR service, experts say

By Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Aug 7, 2024


Amtrak’s 114-year-old East River tunnels, which are used by hundreds of Long Island Rail Road trains rolling in and out of Manhattan's Penn Station every day, are slated to undergo years of repairs starting this fall — and experts warn the work could spell big trouble for commuters.

The tunnels are separated into four tubes, each carrying a set of tracks. Flooding from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 damaged two of those tubes, and Amtrak last month inked a contract to rebuild the damaged structures as part of a $1.6 billion project.

Amtrak plans to fully close one tube at a time while crews “demolish all existing tunnel systems down to the liner, before completely restoring both tubes” over the course of three-and-a-half years, the railroad said in a press release. That means that from the fall until at least late 2027, trains moving between Penn Station and Queens will only have access to three tracks underneath the East River instead of four.


more:
https://gothamist.com/news/amtraks-r...ce-experts-say