ARC tunnel
The 5.6 km long Access to the Region's Core ( Access to the Region's Core , dt. Access to the heart of the region , including Trans-Hudson Passenger Rail Tunnel ) is the centerpiece of a new railway line for passenger which the capacitance between New Jersey and Manhattan should double. The access route begins west of Secaucus Junction and runs south along the Northeast Corridor before it joins the new Hudson Tunnel. The Pennsylvania Station to by a six-track railway terminus be extended under 34th Street.
The plans for the new tunnel were transferred to the ARC project in 1995 under Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman . Construction began in June 2009, but the work was stopped on October 9, 2010 by the newly elected Republican Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie , because the financing of the forecast additional costs is unclear. The opening was originally supposed to take place in 2019.
Project overview
The project consists of the following parts:
- Two tunnels under the New Jersey Palisades and the Hudson . They run in an arch southwest along the existing tunnel of the Northeast Corridor and cross the entrance to the existing Penn Station in Manhattan. The exits lead directly into the new station.
- Six-track underground terminus, also called New York Pennsylvania Station Extension (NYPSE) in the planning . The station is located north of the existing Penn Station under 34th Street and provides access to the subways .
- Track loop at Secaucus Junction to connect the Main Line / Bergen County Line and the Pascack Valley Line to the line.
- Additional parking facility in Kearny, New Jersey
Initially, a connection from the ARC tunnel to the existing Penn Station, which would have been called Penn Station Connector , was also considered. This idea was dropped again because either the ramp would have become very steep or extensive embankments at the bottom of the Hudson River would have been necessary. In addition, the route in Manhattan would have had to be built using the open construction method, which would have entailed a high payment to the residents of the construction site.
Gateway Project
In response to the end of ARC, Amtrak made its own proposal, the Gateway Project , to address the capacity constraints in the New York - Newark section. The main components of the project are:
- two new tunnel tubes south of the existing tunnels
- Replacement of the old, movable, double-track Portal Bridge with a new, four-track high bridge
- Extension of Penn Station to include a seven-track, underground terminus ( Penn South )
The project is still at an early stage. In particular, the financing of the costs of around $ 15 billion has not been clarified. Completion is not expected before 2025. The project received political support from Senators Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez .
Even if the future of Gateway is unclear, preliminary work was done for the project in 2013: In the Hudson Yards development project, an approx. 260 meter long concrete shell is being built for 150 million dollars, through which the tracks for Gateway will later be run could. This construction work is necessary because later (if the Hudson Yards project continues) these areas will no longer be accessible.
Web links
- Information package from the operator ( Memento of April 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.6 MB, English, including overview map)
- Marc Pitzke: Crisis US economy - America’s tunnel to nowhere. Spiegel-online from October 17th, 2010
Individual evidence
- ↑ Access to the Region's Core: Final Environmental Impact Statement. (PDF; 2.25 MB) Executive Summary. New Jersey Transit, October 2008, archived from the original on August 7, 2011 ; accessed on December 26, 2013 (English).
- ↑ Gateway Project. (PDF) Amtrak, February 2011, accessed August 6, 2014 .
- ^ Bill Wichert: Amtrak to construct 'tunnel box' for Hudson River rail project to cross Manhattan development. In: The Star-Ledger. March 5, 2013, accessed August 6, 2014 .