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NYC’s Penn Station can’t use sought-after European travel model, experts say

T he future of one idea to improve New York Penn Station’s hellish rush hour overcrowding will have to wait until the future, said experts at a forum held at NYU Monday.

The concept, called “through running,” has been proposed by two advocacy groups. But it got a thumbs down for the present time, said a consultant who studied the idea for Amtrak and the Long Island RailRoad, and NJ Transit.

Through running is a largely European concept that has express commuter trains stop, and allows for drop-off or pick-up from widened platforms. Then, trains move on to serve the metro region across agency boundaries.

Study results were detailed by Foster Nichols, a WSP senior Vice President during a packed forum held at New York University Monday by the Regional Plan Association and the Municipal Art Society of New York.

Through running was proposed in 2017 By ReThink Studios and a hybrid version by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. Both were evaluated in the study in addition to a version consultants proposed and evaluated.

“We tried to make it work,” Nichols said after an hour-long presentation. “There was no combination of investments and things we could do and adjustments to train operations that would offer enough capacity to deliver 48 trains an hour.”

That’s the total capacity that the $16 billion Gateway Project to build two new Hudson River Tunnels and rehabilitate the current 115-year old tunnels will deliver when it’s completed in the mid to late 2030’s.

Three versions of through running studied that included no or minor Penn Station expansion fell short, delivering less than 48 trains an hour in the peak commuting period, Nichols said.

Through running supporters and opponents of a plan to expand Penn Station — which could result in demolition of homes, businesses and historic sites in the neighborhood around the station for an underground annex — criticized the conclusions and asked for “second opinion” in an independent study.

Through running also depends on transit agencies restructuring their service to offer “regional metro” transit style service from suburban areas to the city that run more frequently, like a subway, and cross current agency boundaries.

That concept was used on “The Train to the Game,” a joint NJ Transit-Metro North train started in 2009 that took NY Giants and Jets fans directly from New Haven Connecticut, through Penn Station New York to Secaucus Junction, where football fans changed a train to the stadium.

That train was possible because rail equipment was compatible and used the same overhead wire electric systems. But expansion of that type of service to other Metro North and Long Island Railroad lines isn’t possible because those trains get power from a third rail, officials said.

The only thing standard between those lines now is the “gauge (size) of track, and extensive investment and agreement on trains and how they’re powered would be needed,” Nichols said.

“The notion is it’s cheap and easy,” he said. “There is a lot of work and investment to deliver through running.”

Some Penn Station track level facility expansion would be needed, Nichols said, estimating that 21 to 23 tracks would be needed for all rail services. That was based on an analysis of how through running is done in Europe and Canada, he said

It would also result in a decade-long construction period reminiscent of 2017′s ”summer of hell” Penn Station track improvement program that sent 25% of NJ Transit trans to Hoboken for the summer.

That is based on a proposal to consolidate Penn Station to 17 tracks and widen platforms, which Nichols said would require removing more than 1,000 support columns for Madison Square Garden and other structures above the station, he said.

“What we’re talking about here is a decade of hell to stage construction and have 30% fewer trains at rush hour,” Nichols said. “We could do it, but the level of construction would be massive.”

All three through running plans fell short of the capacity needed to accommodate the maximum trains the Gateway and rehabilitated North River tunnels, and addition of Metro North service from the Bronx, could provide during rush hour, the experts concluded.

“All the hybrid or through running plans fall short,” said Petra Messick, Amtrak senior capital delivery program director. “All the railroads believe Penn Station needs to be improved. It’s about how we utilize the improvements from Gateway and look and look toward through running in the future.”

ReThink NYC chairperson Samuel Turvey disagreed, calling for an independent study and saying through running remains “the viable, far superior and cost effective solution and should be implemented in conjunction with the opening of the Gateway Tunnels.”

“We need an independent review that puts the public first,” Turvey said. “We are losing ground to our peer cities and denying the 20 million plus residents of the region the type of rail experience and connectivity they deserve.

Referring to the agreements between the MTA commuter railroads and NJ Transit that would be needed to make it happen, he said “the railroads need to learn how to play in the same sandbox which happens in more peer cities than we can mention.”

Messick said an independent study “would be welcome.”

Meanwhile work is beginning on the next phase of the larger Gateway program to expand Penn Station on the track level for the additional trains.

“We’ve begun planning for Penn Station capacity expansion, so we are looking at a variety of alternatives for expanding capacity to the south and to the north (of Penn Station).”

Some design work on the Penn North and South annexes will be done as part of conducting an Environmental Impact study of the alternatives, she said.

“Design work will continue through the Environmental Impact Statement and progress to 30%,” she said. “It won’t progress past 30% until the EIS process is over.”

Initial plans called for building an underground annex of additional tracks and platforms south of Penn Station which would require demolition of 35 buildings in Midtown Manhattan.

That concept has been vehemently fought by the neighborhood in each iteration since 2014, including Gov. Kathy Hochul’s scaled-back version of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s concept to allow construction of multiple super tall towers around Penn Station to finance commuter rail and subway improvement in the station.

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Larry Higgs may be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on X @CommutingLarry .

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