Dear friends of Regional Rail:

The next meeting of the Regional Rail Working Group (RRWG) will be held on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 , 6-8pm (meeting will start promptly at 6pm) Conference Room, NYPD Downtown Ce nter 104 Washington Street (just north of Rector Street),  Lower Manhattan.

 

Again, we will focus on getting NJ Transit back on the right track, -- redirecting the Hudson River tunnel project to a more sensible plan that eliminates the deep cavern station and brings trains directly into existing platforms and tracks in Penn Station, and then builds a new connection from these tracks in Penn Station into existing tracks and platforms in the lower level of Grand Central.

 

Joe Clift will make a presentation for the RRWG that advocates for this proposal. 

 

In addition, a progress report will be made focusing on the endorsement by the Mayors of Jersey City and Hoboken on a routing for the new tunnel through their communities, that avoids the extensive damage to wetlands that results from NJ Transit's current plan to expand Portal Bridge capacity just west of Secaucus, NJ.

 

Other agenda items will be progress reports on key RRWG initiatives:

 

1. Thru-running at Penn Station
2. Upper Level Loop Alternative for LIRR East Side Access
3. Rockaway Cut-off - one-seat ride Midtown Manhattan-JF K Airport
4. Lower Manhattan Access
5. Light Rail in the Lincoln Tunnel
6. Regional Rail Freight plan
7. Intercity rail passenger issues

The purpose of the working group is to develop and advance pla ns for converting the region's commuter rail lines into a regional rail system,
with fast, frequent service and affordable, integrated fares. The group also considers changes to rapid transit and light rail transit that are
"regional" in scale.
 
Regional Rail issues are discussed on our website: www.rrwg.org

The Working Group includes:

Empire State Passengers Association
NJ Association of Railroad Passengers
Lackawanna Coalition
Five Towns Rural Transit, Inc.
Committee for Better Transit
Institute for Rational Urban Mobility
Sane Aviation for Everyone, Inc. (SAFE) (our newest participant)

Plan to attend the next meeting on May 28, 2008., 6-8pm 

Also plan to attend the next meeting of Auto-Free New York , at the same location, but the day before on May 27, 2008 6-8pm:

 

Special Presentation:

 

  "Amtrak and Rail Freight - What's Ahead?",  Doug Bowen, Managing Editor, Railway Age

geo

George Haikalis
Chair, Regional Rail Working Group
One Washington Square Village, Suite 5D
New York, NY 10012 phone: 212-475-3394 

geo@irum.org     www.irum.org    www.auto-free.org      
www.vision42.org     www.rrwg.org