Dear friends of Regional Rail:
The next regular monthly meeting of the Regional Rail Working Group will be:
Wednesday, October 18, 2006 6-8pm (meeting will start promptly at 6pm)
Conference Room, NYPD Downtown Center 104 Washington Street (just north of Rector Street), Lower Manhattan.
Please note that the exhibit "Making the Connection: Moving Forward on Regional Rail" will continue at the Municipal Art Society's Urban Center, through November 8, 2006. MAS is located at 457 Madison Avenue, at 51st Street. The exhibit is open from 11am to 5.00pm, Monday thru Saturday, excepts Thursdays. If you have not had a chance to see this exhibit, by all means please try to stop by. There are seven large panels covering the walls of the gallery that make a very compelling case for Regional Rail. Many thanks to all RRWG members who helped put this together.
At the well-attended September 27, 2006 Panel Discussion at MAS, participants from MTA, NJ Transit and PANYNJ called for an initial effort to begin "thru-running" at Penn Station. To help more this forward, the first agenda item at next Wednesday's meeting will be to consider options for implementing thru-running as a "demonstration project".
Other agenda items for Wednesday's meeting will include a quick update on each of these key initiatives:
1. Penn Station-Grand Central connection
2. Upper Level Loop Alternative for LIRR East Side Access
3. Rockaway Cut-off - one-seat ride Midtown Manhattan-JFK Airport
4. Lower Manhattan Access
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
Plan to attend the next meeting on October 18, 2006.
George Haikalis
Chair, Regional Rail Working Group
One Washington Square Village, Apt. 5D
New York, NY 10012 phone: 212-475-3394 fax:212-475-5051
