The East Side Access Project Discussion (ESA)

[Commuter X]

You folks are too optimistic this will be completed in our lifetime Perhaps by that time, Part XXXV will have started

Depends on how old you are... What info makes you state this? Is it over/under budget, behind schedule, stalled by the legal system, etc.

Over budget and behind schedule
It was originally scheduled to be completed in 2009 and cost $4.3 billion
Currently estimated to open in 2023 and cost $10.8 billion -- a 250% increase

If anybody believes it will open in 8 years, I have a few bridges to sell you

[hotbike]

The track leading to the new layup yard (where the freight yard was) follows the path of the Amtrak loop track - only it is below ground. They built a vent building for this new tunnel at 39th street.

Is that 39th street in Queens, or 39th street in Manhattan ? I just need to know, so I don't go to the wrong place to photograph it.

[Rockingham Racer]

The Amtrak loop track is in Sunnyside, and that's in Queens.

[nyandw]

Is that 39th street in Queens, or 39th street in Manhattan ? I just need to know, so I don't go to the wrong place to photograph it.

I'll look forward to seeing you photos, thanks.

[hotbike]

Is that 39th street in Queens, or 39th street in Manhattan ? I just need to know, so I don't go to the wrong place to photograph it.

I'll look forward to seeing you photos, thanks.

You will be waiting for some time, I was planning to go past 39th street in *Manhattan*...

[jlr3266]

3.25%

[Commuter X]

Does it matter?

ESA may not be completed for another 15 / 20 years, or it could end up like the Second Ave Subway

[vince]

I think it'd matter to the folks who design of traction power feeder requirements for mu's making the grade.
vince

[mkm4]

I think it'd matter to the folks who design of traction power feeder requirements for mu's making the grade.

Well, if that person was coming here to do their research, I'd be very worried.

[MNCRR9000]

Looks like the east side access project opening may be delayed even longer

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NY ... wt_NYBrand" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lawmakers in Albany still haven't responded to the MTA's request for $29 billion, and that means a number of subway projects may be shelved or scrapped altogether, according to the chief of the transit agency.
The news comes as MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast was confirmed for a new six-year term by the state senate Wednesday. He said that "urgency is increasing" to get funding for the agency, which oversees the nation's largest transportation system.

Of the $29 billion, $20 billion is considered essential to keep the system running. The other $9 billion, includes $4 billion for enhancements like countdown clocks and $5 billion for future expansions like the Second Avenue subway and East Side Access.
Without the funding, Prendergast said East Side Access — the $10 billion project to expand the LIRR into Grand Central Station — is in jeopardy. The mega-project is slated to open in 2022, but inaction from state lawmakers could push that date back even later.

Things look even worse for future phases of the Second Avenue subway. Prendergast said contractors will need money that the MTA simply won't have.
"Right now we're not at that point but we're fast approaching it," he said.

Riders may also notice no countdown clocks on the lettered subway lines -- something long promised for frustrated commuters. The clocks may be considered an "enhancement" in the MTA's budget request, and thus not essential.
"They need to get it together and put it on all the lines," Rita Aborn of Bedford-Stuyvesant, said. "It's not a luxury."

A tap-and-go payment system to replace the 20-year-old MetroCard may also get moved to the back-burner, Prendergast said.
Commuter advocate Gene Russianoff blames Gov. Cuomo for not spurring the legislature to fund the MTA. He said it's "not legacy, but lethargy," from Albany.

Experts say the city's aging trains and buses, which already lag far behind other global metropolises, will deteriorate considerably if the transit authority is unable to digitize a century-old subway signaling system, replace miles of subway tracks and cars, and fix tunnel lighting, among many other critical repairs.
The general consensus among transportation experts is that the price tag isn't high enough to cover the massive amount of work that needs to be done.

For subway riders, perhaps the most important improvement included in the capital plan is the installation of communications-based train control systems on several subway lines, which will effectively digitize the trains. That means they'll be able to run much closer together and more efficiently, rather than stopping and waiting for other trains to pass ahead of them.
Cuomo announced in April that the MTA will receive a nearly $1 billion federal loan for safety improvements meant to avoid a repeat of a 2013 derailment that killed four people.

The $967 million in funding will be used to complete the installation of Positive-Train Control systems, which automatically slow the train if the operator — or some other malfunction — places it in jeopardy. The National Transportation Safety board has concluded the devices would have prevented the December 2013 crash of a Metro-North train, which was traveling 85 mph on a dangerous curve as it approached a station in the Bronx.
"The MTA received more than $1 billion from this year's budget to help with its capital needs, including funding to provide unprecedented public transportation access to Bronx residents," Cuomo spokeswoman Beth DeFalco said in an emailed statement. "Work on the MTA capital plan is continuing with all stakeholders."

But as MTA board member Polly Trottenberg, the city's transportation commissioner, pointed out during the committee meeting, a loan is not a grant: Eventually, it has to be paid back.
Published at 5:08 PM EDT on Jun 24, 2015

[vince]

Well, if that person was coming here to do their research, I'd be very worried.

Not to worry as this is a forum to discuss issues/questions and not an electrical engineering firm.

Just wondering though why would doing research here be worrysome?
I mean after all there is a wealth of LIRR experience contributing to this forum.

A question I asked a while back about Impedance Bridges was answered pleasantly and
in great detail by The Tool and I'm not designing **M.E.A.T. for the Rail Road either.***

**M.E.A.T. Mysterious Equipment Alongside Tracks
***Err, Actually I am . . . building MEAT using Google SketchUp
example:

ML_Impedence_Joint.jpg

Cheers,
vince

[Commuter X]

I'm shocked.
Junior can't complete one project before proposing another
I count three as of yet unfinished projects that are under construction (ESA, Second Ave Subway and the extension of the 7 line)
How is he going to find $450 million (todays dollars) to fund connecting the Airtran to the 7 train?

[SwingMan]

I'm shocked.
Junior can't complete one project before proposing another
I count three as of yet unfinished projects that are under construction (ESA, Second Ave Subway and the extension of the 7 line)
How is he going to find $450 million (todays dollars) to fund connecting the Airtran to the 7 train?

While theoretically it would seem to make sense to have the current Air Train system added on to, could they legitimately pull it off with the current set-up - and lack of - additional space to shuttle trains in and out. Not to mention the last thing the 7 line needs is tourists with large loads of physical baggage.

[Jeff Smith]

1 Vanderbilt developer will foot some of the bills for ESA at GCT: Crain's

Brief, fair-use quotes of relevant portions (improvements to the Lexington Avenue line are discussed in the subway forum):

City approves 1 Vanderbilt after developer agrees to make upgrades to Grand Central

...The tower will house a gleaming new transit hall that will funnel workers directly into Grand Central and also provide a crucial direct link from commuter trains to the subway system for the MTA's East Side Access project, which will bring 65,000 Long Island Rail Road commuters directly into the terminal when it opens in about seven years.

And from Newsday

LIRR, East Side Access to benefit from $220M in Grand Central Terminal improvements, developer says

The planned upgrades by SL Green Realty Corp. -- the Manhattan builder behind the proposed 63-story 1 Vanderbilt Ave. -- include a spacious "transit hall" at street level where future East Side Access commuters can wait for their trains, and new hallways, stairs and escalators inside Grand Central that will give LIRR riders direct paths to subway connections and to 43rd Street.
...
...about a third of the money will go directly toward improvements for East Side Access -- the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $11 billion megaproject to link the LIRR to Grand Central by 2022.
...
The developer also plans to build a 4,000-square-foot transit hall at 43rd and Vanderbilt to create a spacious, glass-enclosed, street-level waiting area for LIRR commuters, complete with a digital train departure board and direct path down to the railroad's customer concourse 140 feet below.
...

[SRich]

ESA is still connecting to PSCC for control.

So Amtrak/LIRR/NJT controls the East Side Acces when (ever) it's in operation ?

Perhaps then they can build a central controlling tower to control everything from Metro North, LIRR and Amtrak.