East Side Access

[Andrew]

Why did engineering contractors deem a four bore tunnel in Manhattan feasible instead of a typical two bore tunnel?

 

[Ryan]

Magic.

 

[jebr]

Magic.

I disagree.

 

[Trogdor]

I think they should extend PATH to Los Angeles via a high-speed monorail.

 

[afigg]

Why did engineering contractors deem a four bore tunnel in Manhattan feasible instead of a typical two bore tunnel?

The answer you seek on the design choices may be in the East Side Access FEIS documents or the additional material linked to from the MTA website. Worth noting that the date on the FEIS is March 2001 while the ESA is now projected to be completed in 2019. So a baby born when the FEIS was completed could graduate from high school or go off to college by the time service starts on the ESA. Yikes.

 

[Eric S]

I think they should extend PATH to Los Angeles via a high-speed monorail.

High speed monorail, or perhaps hyperloop. Pan American Transit Hyperloop.

 

[Andrew]

The LIRR currently operates approximately 37 trains per hour during the heart of Peak Hour. How likely is this number likely to decrease below 30 trains per hour once East Side Access opens?

 

[Anderson]

The LIRR currently operates approximately 37 trains per hour during the heart of Peak Hour. How likely is this number likely to decrease below 30 trains per hour once East Side Access opens?

I'm not sure anyone can answer that question with reliability, since to me it seems likely that the LIRR will end up running a lot of trains through to Penn or Grand Central and providing cross-platform connections for the other train.

 

[jebr]

The LIRR currently operates approximately 37 trains per hour during the heart of Peak Hour. How likely is this number likely to decrease below 30 trains per hour once East Side Access opens?

Somewhere between 0% and 100%.

 

[AlanB]

The LIRR currently operates approximately 37 trains per hour during the heart of Peak Hour. How likely is this number likely to decrease below 30 trains per hour once East Side Access opens?

The LIRR is on record as saying that while they expect an initial drop in the number of trains going into Penn, that they expect that within 10 to 20 years they'll be running just as many trains into NYP as they do right now. They expect ridership to grow that much; so long term there will be little to NO reduction in the number of trains.