From: George Haikalis <geohaikalis@juno.com>
X-ContentStamp: 27:13:1659232939
Dear friends of Regional Rail:
Thanks to all of you who came to our most recent Regional Rail Working
Group meeting which was held at the Municipal Art Society last Wednesday,
November 28, 2007. Lisa Kersavage, MAS' Policy Director gave us a
briefing on the Moynihan/Penn Station rebuilding project and urged the
RRWG to participate in the scoping process for developing this project.
As was mentioned at the meeting, the Empire State Development Corp. will
hold a public scoping meeting on this project tomorrow afternoon,
December 6, 2007, from 4-8pm, at the Farley Building, entrance at 380
West 33rd Street, Room 4500.
I would urge everyone who can make it to participate at the outset in the
development of this very important project. If you cannot attend the
meeting please send your comments for the record by December 17, 2007 to
the following address:
Rebecca Pellegrini
Moynihan Station Development Corporation
633 Third Avenue, 36th Floor
New York, NY 10017
At the RRWG some of the key concerns raised about this project were:
1. A truly monumental project should be devised that will meet the needs
of the traveling public for many years to come. This project should not
be primarily a concourse for shopping, with station access an
afterthought. Consideration should be given to developing a portion of
the station west of 8th Avenue as a facility for long distance trains,
with adequate space to accommodate passengers waiting to board these
trains.
2. The project should not preclude the opportunity for bringing trains
using the new Hudson River tunnel directly into existing platforms and
tracks at Penn Station and then continuing on in a new tunnel under 31st
Street and Park Avenue to Grand Central Terminal. This is the plan
favored by the RRWG, since it makes it possible for Harlem Line
passengers to reach Penn Station, and Trans Hudson passengers to reach
the intensely developed office district around Grand Central. With this
connection, Northeast Corridor trains could pass through Manhattan,
stopping at both monumental stations as they travel between Boston and
Washington. Planning should recognize the likely rail market share for
each terminal, and not remain solely focused on Penn Station.
3. Planning should avoid compartmentalizing the station into sectors
serving different rail carriers, but rather provide for an open access
system, where travelers to any rail carrier can easily reach their
trains, regardless of entrance or access point. The level immediately
above the tracks should be developed as the primary access level from the
platforms. This would facilitate transferring between trains -- creating
a "hub" for regional rail lines that converge at this point.
4. A connection to the Herald Square subway complex should be an integral
part of the Moynihan/Penn station complex. A spacious new east-west
concourse should be centered midblock between 33rd Street and 32nd
Street. It should be planned as the lower level of the new building that
would replace the Pennsylvania Hotel and incorporate the existing Lower
Levels of Manhattan Plaza, lining up with subway entrances at Herald
Square.
5. Planning should also allow for a near term increase in use at Penn
Station, until new East and Hudson River tunnels are completed. Interim
access improvements should include more stairways to platforms, removal
of some retail and railroad backoffice uses to maximize space for
passenger circulation. Construction staging should include steps that
increase, not decrease circulation space as the project advances.
----------------------
Finally -- save the date:
Next Regional Rail Working Group meeting will be on Wednesday, December
19, 2007, 6-8pm at our regular meeting place, the Conference Room at the
NYPD Downtown Center, 104 Washington Street, just north of Rector Street,
in Lower Manhattan. The agenda for this meeting will be circulated next
week.
geo
George Haikalis
Chair, Regional Rail Working Group
President, Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc.
One Washington Square Village, Suite 5D, New York, NY 10012
geo@irum.org www.irum.org www.rrwg.org 212-475-3394
