Chapter 3 The Transportation System - New York Metropolitan ...

Chapter 3Empire Corridor tracks located beneaththe George Washington Bridge, improvingboth safety and train speeds in upperManhattan. 22 A 2010 USDOT TIGER(Transportation Investment GeneratingEconomic Recovery) grant, disbursedunder the American Recovery and ReinvestmentAct of 2009, provided $83 millionto improve access to and within NewYork Penn Station and laid the groundworkfor the conversion of the FarleyPost Office to Moynihan Station. 23Amtrak’s largest project in the NYMTCplanning area is a $295 million commitmentto a $368 million bypass of HaroldInterlocking, a section of track withinSunnyside Yards in Queens used by Amtrak,the LIRR and NJ Transit. Whencompleted, the bypass will divert Amtraktrains from the interlocking, increasingspeeds and reliability for all three railroads.The grant money was divertedfrom Florida after that state rejected federalhigh-speed rail funds. 24On the technology front, Amtrak beganproviding wireless internet service to itspassengers in early 2010, and expandedthe service through the rest of 2010 andinto 2011. 25 Passengers also began receivingNortheast Corridor service disruptionnotifications via Twitter as partof a pilot program launched in March2011. 26Despite the numerous Northeast Corridor-relatedinfrastructure upgradespreviously mentioned, the issue of highspeedrail in the region and nationwideremains a compelling topic. In 2010and 2011, Amtrak devoted resources todeveloping a vision for high-speed rail,even enacting a departmental reorganizationto focus more intently on its developmentand potential. 27 However, Congressremoved all funding for high speedrail from the federal 2012 transportationbudget. 28After the cancellation of the Access to theRegion’s Core project, Amtrak began topursue an alternative called the Gatewaytunnel, which would be located underthe Hudson River and connect Secaucus,NJ to the south side of New York’s PennStation via two single-track tunnels parallelingthe current North (aka Hudson)River tunnels. The new tunnels wouldlead to an expansion of Penn Station,currently referred to as “Penn South.” 29It is estimated to cost $10 billion and isproposed to open in 2020, depending onfunding. 30 In November 2011, Amtrakreceived $15 million to begin engineeringwork on the tunnels. 31In May 2013, Amtrak received $185million in federal post-Sandy recoverymoney to construct an 800-foot tunnelsection beneath Hudson Yards, thus preservinga right-of-way for the Gatewayproject through the new neighborhood.The Transportation System 3-13