M9 Cars Design Delivery and Acceptance

Believe it's the possibilty of the car sides hitting the 3rd rail stubs while traversing the puzzle switches near the platforms,
the ML's need an almost straight shot to the platforms.

And this is not a problem in Penn Station, apparently?

Nope. GCT's switches are tighter. Especially on the lower level.

According to MNCR engineering these cars fit fine, with no routing problems, yet the experts here are inventing problems again WTF.

So what is the truth regarding using multi-level coaches into Grand Central Terminal?

For the love of god Dutch Clean Cab was the one who brought it up and he is (or was?) an MN engineer himself.. So in this case it wasn't a "railfan inventing problems."

What I posted was told to me by a MN official. It should be stated that at MN, like any other large company there are more than a few people who will dispense information based more on their opinion that may conflict with what another persons say/believes.

The NJT ML cars (in their current configuration) will not be able to negotiate the tighter switches (especially on Ladder "O") within the GCT interlocking. I go by what I am told and do not fabricate information just for the sake of replying.

John those officials did not run the LIRR C-1's into terminal, I did, the LIRR C-1 car has a much lower underbody and had no problems on upperlevel.
The NJT MLV's have far more clearance and are fitting according to MNCR engineering dept, Ill tell them to shelf the project cause your official says so ...

It's "shelve" not shelf.

Now that you've won this battle, can we get back to discussing M9'S???????

Will the M9A's be able to go into Penn Station?

Yes......but for LIRR. There is only going to be one M9 that is going to work on both railroads (so the Metro-North M9 and the LIRR M9 will be virtually the same with the exception of the name stenciled on the side). The LIRR is also going for a separate procurement for 160 M9A's, and if you believe everything you read in the LIRR forum, they'll have a couple interesting modifications, but will be interoperable with the M9 fleet.

So MNR is just getting plain M9's and the LIRR is getting both M9's and M9A's.

Hudson Line PSAS would need dual modes since the Empire Connection is not powered anyways.

There would be no way for MN M9's to get into Penn Station unless they put 3rd rail on the Empire Connection, which is rather unlikely.

By the time that Penn Station Access gets completed, is it a high probability that a new type of dual-mode commuter rail locomotive will be on the market for transportation agencies to procure?

We'll find out in 2019, if we're lucky!!

Dual modes like the ALP45-DP could work if they meet Metro-North clearances. The Empire tunnel has catenary as well as third rail. The wire ends at EMPIRE along with the third rail.