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Dear friends of Regional Rail: The next meeting of the Regional Rail Working Group (RRWG) will be held on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 6-8pm (meeting will start promptly at 6pm) Conference Room, NYPD Downtown Center 104 Washington Street (just north of Rector Street), Lower Manhattan. Discussion will focus on two key issues: -- "Governor Paterson's new Penn Station Initiative" At a lunch meeting of the NY Building Congress on September 12, 2008 Governor Paterson called for coordination of rail plans at Penn Station. In his comments heard on WINS and other stations , he stressed the need for agencies to work together so that a traveler could take a direct train ride from Long Island to New Jersey. It is important for the RRWG to demonstrate how an integrated operating plan could avoid the need for a new six-track deep cavern station some 175 feet below 34th Street and now, as revealed in today's NY Observer, avoid the need for a new five or six track expansion of the station south of 31st Street. Both of these costly expansion projects, amounting to some four to six billion dollars in capital cost, would not be needed if the RRWG's Regional Rail plan were put into place. This plan calls for thru-running operation on all 21 existing platform tracks at Penn Station. The six existing tracks at the southern end of Penn Station would be extended to the Lower Level of Grand Central Terminal with thru-running between points in the Bronx and points West of the Hudson. -- tutorial on regional rail equipment compatibility issues, including common regional designs for electric rail cars, dual-mode locomotives and station platform height. 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 September 24, 2008, 6-8pm Also, on Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 6-8pm, Auto-Free New York will hold an open forum to consider a position to present to the Ravitch Commission on funding MTA. Regional Rail can play an important role in putting MTA on a sound fiscal footing. Save the date for the following month's RRWG meeting on Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 6-8pm All three meetings at 104 Washington St. geo |
