Dear friends of Regional Rail:

The next meeting of the Regional Rail Working Group (RRWG) will be held on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 , 6-8pm (meeting will start promptly at 6pm) Conference Room, NYPD Downtown Center 104 Washington Street (just north of Rector Street),  Lower Manhattan.

 

 

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-Aqueduct Racino-JFK Airport and Rockaway Peninsula
4. Lower Manhattan Access
5. Light Rail in the Lincoln Tunnel
6. Regional Rail Freight plan
7. Intercity rail passenger issues, including new NY-Wash high speed rail line, and NY State Rail plan

The purpose of the working group is to develop and advance plans 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 August 27, 2008, 6-8pm 

Save the date for the following month's RRWG meeting on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 6-8pm

 

Both meetings at 104 Washington St.

 

Also, check www.auto-free.org for special walking tour of West Midtown on August 26, 2008

Description of this walking tour is shown below:

 

Linking Penn Station to the new Hudson River Passenger Rail Tunnel

Advocates better transit and reduced car use in NYC have long pressed for making better use of the region's far-flung commuter rail lines as a practical way to cut car use. The MTA's commuter rail lines are truly a "sleeping giant of regional mobility". While these lines do a reasonable job of bringing suburban commuters to high-paying jobs in Manhattan's Central Business District, their high fares, infrequent service and disconnected terminals make them far less useful in diverting motorists to other destinations. For example, one commuter we know who travels from Maplewood, NJ to Yonkers struggles each weekday with a NJ Transit train to Penn Station, then the 7th Avenue subway to Times Square, then the shuttle to Grand Central and then Metro-North to Yonkers. In such cases, most sensible commuters would choose to drive, clogging the George Washington Bridge in the process.

 

Yet NJ Governor Jon Corzine's transit advisers apparently like it this way. They insist that connecting their new $10 billion Hudson River passenger rail tunnel directly into Penn Station would cause catastrophic damage as it passes through Manhattan's Far West Midtown community. This connection, long favored by regional rail advocates, who have now been joined by Amtrak officials, would be part of a more sensible vision of linking existing tracks and platforms at Penn Station with those in Grand Central Terminal. Such a link would allow trains to pass thru Manhattan, carrying travelers to many more destinations.

 

Come and see for yourself whether NJ Transit's claims are real or exaggerated. Join our walking tour, which will meet at 6pm sharp in Penn Station, at the Amtrak Info Desk, Amtrak Level. As a special bonus -- after we reach the Hudson River at 28th Street we will walk along lower 9th Avenue to the Gansevoort Meat Market to see firsthand the City DOT's new "street enhancements". These much-touted changes have provided better space for cyclists and most importantly have had little or no adverse impact on motorists -- NYCDOT's single most important guiding principle. Should they do more? Perhaps an auto-free light rail boulevard for 9th Avenue, like our long-proposed vision42?