7 train extension to 34st Hudson Yards opens today

That's wonderful....I wish they would do a direct PennStation/Grand Central connection....

Peter

Putnam 

I wish they would do a direct PennStation/Grand Central connection....

That's under Construction.

Please go to integraded Signals Systems.com 

They have some pretty nice type NYC Subway Signals now.

Thanks, John

The station entrance puts me in mind of WMATA's train stations in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

The extension was a completely idiotic project ending "nowhere", excerpt to a deserted crumbling Javits Center and a railyard with no development, too far away from Pennsylvania Station deep down underground. It should have had a station near the ferry from New Jersey. Or connected with the high line. The project forever blocks a parallel rail tunnel to New Jersey North of the existing tunnel.

It goes nowhere....and is so deep it takes six minutes to get from street level to the station...

They have put a lot of money in updating the convention center.  The new construction in the area is on a large scale.  There are even thoughts that they could eventually extend it under the Hudson to NJ.  The project went way beyond estimated completion time but great future growth in the area.

This is great for me since I take the Mega Bus to my daughters place in Astoria.  I can now cross over at Queensboro Plaza from the N to the 7 and it is directly across the street to the bus on my return trip to Pittsburgh.  I will not need a taxi.

I'm not sure you realise this is half a block from the Highline park extension that opened last spring. It is the ramp up from the current LIRR storage yard to the Highline El And is by far the closest subway to the Highline Park. The whole area around there is a huge construction redevelopment area with a huge Mall (with NYCs first Nordstrom's) and museums as well as big office buildings and luxury residential buildings. At the moment and for years the area has been a pit so I can understand your perception but soon it will be quite desirable. Many tourists have found the Highline and now there will be more reason to go to this area.

There is no "construction" project linking Grand Central with Penn Station..

Oh yes..."Highline" Park...that was once connected to a magnificent rail to truck terminal near Canal street and the freight yards at 60th street, that diverted thousands of trucks from entering the city...

Then there was the "wreck of the Penn-Central"...and scammers with NO money, got loans to purchase stock and get a controlling interesting, putting the real estate up as collateral.  The railroad was making money, but that real estate was much more valuable...

So with no risk, they bought the railroad, pulled up tracks south of 14th street and sold the industrial buildings along the way that had industries dependent on rail access...and told the post office they would no longer carry the mail...

So we have a "park" and thousands of fume emitting 18 wheelers delivering goods to the city.

And there is no "connection between Pennsylvania station and Grand Central being built."

Industry was dead or dying on the west side for years.  We can mourn the loss of rail freight traffic but the city has morphed into something different.  Carload rail like the type used on the Highline is no more in an urban area like this.  Mail moved from rail to air, industry moved to industrial areas.  By and large the west side is very different and far better than it was in the 60's and 70's when there were trains there.  Now if they can just build another tunnel from NJ to NY Penn, that would be something.

Or a tunnel from Staten Island to Bay Ridge.  Dual purpose linking the 4th ave line at 59 st and freight to connect the rest of the country to Long Island without having to traverse Albany   Bay ridge yards look like a great place to transfer containers getting a lot of truck traffic off the streets.  BTW  Use the entire line as dual purpose and connect the fourth ave line to the Bronx via Fresh Pond

The high line was almost obsolete from the moment it was built, trucks were already taking over shipping freight into the city by the time it was built, and in the post war period between the movement of manufacturing and such out of the west side, and the growth of truck traffic, it was dead long before the Penn Central came into being. The story of the Pennsylvania and New York Central is a complex one, railroads in general had a tough time after WWII, and the Penn and NY Central also were victims of bad management and also government policy that heavily favored trucks. It is great to lament the good old days, but things changed, what was once a gritty industrial area, for better or worse, has turned into a very high end neighborhood.

Likewise, the 7 train expansion is happening against the backdrop of the development of the far west side, the west side yards project is one of the largest development projects in NYC history, there is going to be a ton of new development in the area, stores and apartment buildings and such, and the surrounding area is also getting built up, so it isn't a 'train to nowhere', it is needed to the far west side doesn't become like some areas of the city are, that don't have close rapid transit access (the east side comes to mind). It is one of the few times in recent memory that someone actually thought of needed infrastructure before the fact.

BTW, the west side railyards project does not block tunnels to NJ, it would have blocked the old ARC tunnels, but they were cancelled 5 years ago. More importantly, they are building two tunnels under the site that will allow the Gateway project as well as current trains to move under the site, there was an article in today's Times about it.Going to have a long wait for the Gateway project, that isn't expected to be finished, if it gets off the ground, until 2040 or so. 

This is at 31st and tenth ave. Wasn't it grand? do you wish it still there? .

You might want to take a gander at www.crossharborstudy.com . I spotted this in the 9/25 Daily News' legal notices section and clipped it out as it may prove interesting later on.

The Port Authority appears to be leaning toward bypassing Staten Island completely and going directly from NJ to Brooklyn, if the study of alternatives discussed on this site are any indication.

Edit: to save the curious from a wild-goose chase, I did it already: [Technical Docs] - [Draft Tier 1 EIS ] - [Section 4.0: Alternatives] <-(PDF)

---PCJ

Sorry for the mess.

That station looks similar to Canary Wharf in London.

Roo