The states of New York and New Jersey are teaming up with Amtrak to save America’s single most important train line in the Northeast Corridor!
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0:00 New York's $16BN Hudson River Tunnel
0:32 The Problem
4:08 The Gateway Program
7:58 New Hudson River Tunnel
13:10 Penn Station Upgrade
#megaprojects #construction #newyork
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Do you think this new tunnel will fix New York‘s bottleneck? 🤔 Thank you for your incredible support on our latest videos! 💛
Honestly yes
No
I don’t even want to drive into NYC now cuz how expensive it is to get in and stay in. Tolls and congestion fees? Parking? But taking a train is not any cheaper… then sacrifices need to be made. But not by much.
@@BlendedCreeperNJ Transit exists
I believe that it will help, although it isn’t a panacea.
I took the Northeast Corridor for 9 years while working in the city. I remember getting off the train for the last time when I found a new job. It was like when you were a kid on the last day of school and you ran wild out of joy. Commuting into NYC is hell on Earth.
How is it different from commuting into other cities - in the US or beyond - that are blessed with regional rail? Are Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, or Washington DC, are any easier to commute into?
@@abenm613the fact is all of those cities have been run by democrats for decades.
Delete "Commuting into" from the last sentence.
@@smctrout4423, you probably never set a foot in NYC and only buying on what special-interest groups want you to believe. I live in NYC and enjoy it.
@@abenm613 and I’m sure u love the taxes. Hey. Ur getting exactly what u voted for.
Several years ago, I lived in New Jersey and took NJTransit's Pascack Valley Line, changing at Secaucus into Penn Station. It was an effort, often very busy, but you got used to it. Though people hate Penn Station, they know they must put up with it for their commute. Making Penn Station more passenger-friendly is nice, but without increasing its train capacity, the same problems will continue to exist, and possibly get worse when the station becomes more friendly and entices more passengers. I spent most of my career in the rail industry, and the new Hudson River twin-tunnel is a step in the right direction, but there is still so much to be done. One possibility is to connect Newark directly to Grand Central (maybe another tunnel(s) farther north), allowing some trains to bypass Penn Station altogether. That would greatly ease congestion and increase capacity, but that would be another multi-billion dollar project that currently doesn't have the politics to be considered.
It's not necessary and would be unbelievably expensive. All they have to do is expand Pennsylvania Station one block to the south to add more platforms that will allow it to accommodate additional service. The station's renovation will handle the additional passenger loads.
I'm pretty sure they just did an expansion to have the LIRR go directly into grand central
After looking at Japan's bullet trains,they're so fast and smooth they have left the rest of the world behind both in terms of speed and reliability and connectivity it seems.
@@davidsmith3736 I rode the Japanese high speed system in 1965. Great system. Similar systems for the US have been discussed endlessly for the past 60 years. Not going to happen in the US. There have been so many road blocks set-up that it becomes politically too expensive.
@@larryschweitzer4904Brightline West 🤨
When I used Penn Station, I always kept my eyes on the board. As soon as I saw which track appeared on the board, I bee-lined to that track without waiting for the fuckin' announcement.
That's Penn Station 101.
Like all the rest of us
I'm pretty sure that's what all everyday commuters do.
One of the things that made Penn Station so crowded was that trains from the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) also used that facility. So Penn Station was filling up with commumters from Long Island, in addition to those from New Jersey and the rest of the US via Amtrak. It took over a decade of construction but now there is a new LIRR station under Grand Central Station at 42nd Street and Lexington Ave. So many Lond Islanders can now avoid Penn Station if they work on the Eastside of Manhattan. Additionally, the old US post office, right across the street from Penn Station, on 8th Ave, was retrofitted into a light filled Amtrak station named the Moynihan train hall. So Amtrak passengers can avoid the rabbit warren of Penn Station. There is even a waiting room for some LIRR passengers as well. So there already has been some improvemnet for passengers who had to go through Penn Station, but there is still so much to be done.
Penn Access will also bring Metro North commuters to Penn Station by the end of the decade so that commutes can be even more well balanced between the two stations
Those are excellent points. I'm not sure why but in the few years that we lived in the City my father always took the E or the F train from Union Turnpike to Jackson Heights and then the number 7 to get to his job at the United Nations. So there was never that problem for him of having to commute from the West Side to the East Side when there was subway station blocks away from the UN. Of course he might have managed his commute this way since he was a penny pinching miser. Still if the LIRR is a viable option for many central Queens residents, the recent changes are obviously a beneficial arrangement
It amazes me that things take years to build now vs 100 years ago. I remember watching and learning that we built stuff like this in a year or two and now it takes 20 years.
Keeps people with jobs
When you dig the first tunnel or build the first foundation for a building, you don't have to worry about disturbing anything else because your project is the only one there. These days building in cities is like playing that game Operation. You have to go around or move the utilities and so on. And that's only for the stuff you know about. There are plenty of projects where the construction team runs into in use infrastructure that's been in the ground since before accurate records were kept. That's just one problem. Another problem is that in the past, worker safety wasn't as big a concern, neither was environmental impacts. The list goes on and on.
@@sosa3202 Very true on that.
@@Odin029 I like your explanation about that. I appreciate it very much. I guess you don’t think about that stuff when it’s very important.
Boeing built and flew the 747 in the 60s inside of two years. And it still flies. Bridges were built in under two years. Rebuilding part of the Oakland Bay Bridge took way longer. Something isn’t right. Yes more is in the way but there is more to it than that.
As someone who grew up in the area - this is probably a half century past overdue. It's so badly overdue that it prevents a lot of people from tolerating going into NYC to enjoy it for a day trip. Where it should be faster for me to take a train into NYC, because of the delays of this tunnel (even when they had all 3 open), it is almost worth driving in. I do disagree with refurbishing NY Penn Station Hall though. The focus should be first to increase capacity by expanding the rail lines that can be there - then make it pretty. Or make it in a way that allows ease of expansion (as easy as expansion gets in NYC).
Yea but since the tunnels won't be done until 2035 so it makes sense to do some of these projects simultaneously
That is what happens when you vote for greedy democrats. They won't agree to anything unless you pay them in some fashion, normally to help them get reelected for a lifetime.
$15B for the 2nd Ave extension, $15B for the LIRR to GCT and another $16B( to start),that's $46B. The city is shaking the tree using the congestion toll for $1B.
@@georgetsokanis3542 no doubt
In fact, the presenter seemed to imply that the completion of those new rail tunnels are the construction priority. I think that the intention is to get those done and over with
I still wish Madison Square Garden would be relocated to a nearby destination with direct access to Pennsylvania Station. MSG has taken the majority of Penn Station space, and there is no room for natural light.
Shot of building it above Sunnyside Yards I don't see that happening.
MSG (corp) should replace MSG with another Sphere like they built in Vegas.
The Jets and the Giants now play in NJ.
Coming from someone who lives in a place where the closest thing to MSG/Penn Station is the TD Garden/North Station, I always wondered why people complain that MSG and Penn Station are so close. It's never really a huge problem in Boston, especially on event days at the TD Garden. I'd understand if it's because Boston also has the T's Orange/Green Line connection AT North Station alongside the Commuter Rail, and yeah, the T isn't, well, reliable at the moment, but I would think that having a big event stadium like MSG connected or even across the street from a busy commuter rail station would be great for commuters. Like I said, I don't know how it runs in New York, so bare with my innocence and curiosities.
MSG has to be demolished and relocated somewhere else
The most amazing thing is that this whole system works as good as it does. It was built over 100 years ago, has multiple problem, antiquated and well worn equipment and still works to a point. It definitely needs to be fixed. Actually it needed to be updated years ago, but at least it looks like progress is being made. Lets hope that politics does not interfere and delay or halt this project.
Alas, the ultimate solution to the Penn Station problem is to essentially move Madison Square Garden to a new location and essentially restoring as much as possible the old Pennsylvania Station layout. But that would cost another US$15 to US$17 billion to pull off, and James Dolan, the current owner of MSG, is extremely unwilling to move MSG given he spent over US$1.2 billion in 2012 dollars on a massive modernization of the current building. I'd recommend building a new MSG at Hudson Yards (which is already well-connected by recent subway lines) and building a new Pennsylvania Station from scratch in the same Art Deco style that made the Chrysler Building, Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center so well-inown.
I agree 100%
Moving MSG that far away from its current position is actually insane.
@@coolboss999 Actually not. Hudson Yards is actually just west of Penn Station next to the Javits Convention Center, and putting a new MSG there frees up space for a new, essentially ground level Pennsylvania Station like the original version.
@@Sacto1654 Still. That moves MSG away from a lot of transfers and train lines. Now all you have is the 7 and the E. Down from like 6 subway lines AND Penn Station access to it. As much as I do believe Penn Station needs to be upgraded, it's going to have to deal with MSG being on top of it whether you like it or not.
@@coolboss999 I'd almost agree, but there are plentiful New Yorkers with the money to buy out Dolan's ownership of MSG. Would Dolan walk away from possibly US$25 billion to buy him out? If that happens, the work on a new MSG at Hudson Yards would start almost immediately, a new arena that could be nearly as modern as the upcoming Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA.
I have always wondered what the city might have looked like if another state line wasn’t right over the Hudson
The US is embarrassingly far behind in crucial infrastructure. Our economy is too focused on minting billionaires.
Too busy sending hundreds of billions overseas.
A lot of that is BS. Yea there is infrastructure that’s old & needs replacing but that’s only bc they’re at the end of their lifespan. I guarantee you most of the infrastructure in China won’t last as long as it does in the US. The reason it won’t is because they do not build structures the way we do & they take every short cut they can to reduce costs. A good example is car tires. If you buy the same brand & same model from China it will not be of the same quality as one from the US or Mexico because they skip curing the rubber because it costs a lot of money. Another major difference in the US is all of our roads are kept in good condition which is very rare in most countries even in parts of Europe.
SMH at your massive ignorance Tom. This are blue states and blue citys. That is why they are far behind in infrastructure. These kind of corrupt delays dont happen in the normal world, because not everyone need their palms greased in other citys because they arent run by criminal Democrats.
Health care is getting worst by the year compared to other countries
You're wrong it's focused on putting money in their pockets and giving money to other countries
My brother & I recently visited the NY Transit Museum in Brooklyn. What struck us the most is how much the NY subway system contributed to the economic development of NY City & the surrounding areas. For example, in 1930, just on 2 billion (yes, with a "B") people rode the NY subway system, an average of about 5.4 million riders per day. Many were migrant construction workers heading into the city to build the now iconic NYC skyline Fun Fact - Empire State Building was built in just 13 months in 1930-31 !! The NY subway gave the workers access to cheaper areas to live around NYC and a fast & affordable way to get to & from work. Fair enough, that might not be the case anymore, but it does highlight the importance & impact of having an effective public transportation infrastructure. The Gateway project is a positive step to keep the economic momentum going in NYC & the NE Corridor. We need more far-sighted infrastructure ideas like this in the US. And if you have a chance, go visit the NY Transit Museum.
the Penn Station problem could’ve been easier to solve if they hadn’t leveled the above ground portion to build Madison Square Garden.
And the old Penn Station was an architectural masterpiece that was tragically replaced with the insipid Madison Square Garden.
How Amtrak and NJ Transit, have been able to run all their trains thru just 2 tunnels is amazing. Good thing LIRR doesn't go thru the Hudson River Tunnels too.
Yes I'm from Boston area we got the big dig that solved a lot of congestion problems but NY and NJ gets this I'm on your side start digging
They did a good job on the new Tappan Zee Bridge.
billions
Before the Tappan Zee Bridge was built, we took the Yonkers Ferry to get from northern Bergen County to northern Westchester County. I remember the stories about the Tappan Zee Bridge's being built on the cheap. That cost money later. A few years after that the the lower level of the George Washington Bridge opened. It was planned for when the bridge was built in the Twenties! A big difference in doing it cheap or doing it right.
If Staten Island ever needed a tunnel to NYC now would be the time, because the more ways in and out of the city the better; adding the Long Island to CT or RI Tunnel also!!!
Why weren't rail line included when the Verrazano Narrows Bridge was built?
@@howardcitizen2471it was the 60, they were fully investing in cars. The R train was supposed to end in Staten Island, the tunnel was actually starting to be built and stopped.
@@howardcitizen2471 NYC urban planner Robert Moses was racist and didn't want poor or minorities traveling easily into Staten Island, then was an escape for White Middle class New Yorkers fleeing integration and minorities from the other 4 boroughs
Also, a tunnel from NJ to Brooklyn wouldn’t be a bad idea.
I grew up in metro NYC. Lived in Jersey City, The Bronx and Brooklyn. I got around the country a lot. I now live in Louisville, Kentucky. I miss the big apple. Good luck with those projects.
You can always move back. Just have fun with the 4k+ average rent, uncontrolled shoplifting and other more serious crimes in which the city and state refuse to actually charge, the disaster that is the illegal migrant crisis, cumbling infrastructure...
Do u miss the corrupt politicians in NYC?
bet its alot cheaper and nicer to live there now, good luck.......
Red States dont need fascist Demorat voters, so by all means move back to that hellhole.
Tried that already in Pennsylvania. Boring as hell. Moved back to NYC. I miss all the crazy people. Those that are scared, stay home and buy a dog.
Great job putting this video together !! Thank you
It’s a start. Seems like a good idea as long as it stays on course. Very much needed.. It’s amazing that the men and women who navigate train traffic through that area are able to successfully do it on a daily basis. I support it and hope it’s successful.
Nice video! Not from NYC, but we are having somewhat similar issues with our subway here in Montreal canada.
Heading in to Manhattan on NJ Transit today. The tunnel upgrades cannot come soon enough!
‘Arguably one of americas most important cities’
At 16:32, duh! That's Grand Central Terminal. Get it right or don't bother.
MegaBuilds team thanks for another great video ;) can't wait for more on EU mega projects :)
I got to hate my commute into NYC/PENN so much that decided to drop $1M on an Apartment in NYC 6 years ago to eliminate my commute. I am now retiring and am under contact to sell the apartment for $3.6M. Happy Retirement gift to me! There are things I love about the city and I will be back, however the commute was not one of them.
Lol, good thing you didn't listen to the haters that have been forecasting NYC death for years. Good investment mate.
Taxes will cost you dearly for that.
Biden thinks they finally have the money. THE FEDS OWE $36TRILLION
Boy do I know it, on the taxes. NY throws ridiculous amounts of money away on nothing and has to get it from residents. Luckily, that will be the last tax bill I ever pay in NY. The State govt is so corrupt , I had to go.
😮
Thanks for sharing this video! I’ve contributed a bit of design work to the Gateway Program as one of the consulting transit and rail engineers. Penn Station is such a headache! So many design exceptions with those tight clearances!! Also did a bit of work for the corridor’s design schematics. So much effort!
Penn Station has enough tracks & platforms but not utilized correctly. Only the middle 4 tracks of the 21 are through running. The north side tracks and south side tracks could be used better if allowed the LIRR & NJT to through run instead of terminate at Penn & then reverse out of the station adding to the delays while the trains cross in front of one another. By through running Amtrak, LIRR & NJT would better use the existing tracks and platforms, add capacity and allow for true regional rail service in the NYC area
Alas, I have never been to NYC, but I am full of admiration for your train operations people who have to get all the trains from such a large station funnelled down through just two exit tracks to the west. Also it appears from diagrams that Grand Central Station had until recently only four exit tracks to cope with all the traffic from 40-odd platform faces. By way of comparison, London's two biggest stations, Waterloo and Victoria (both termini), have respectively 24 and 19 platform faces, but they each have 8 exit tracks before the routes start to diverge, and the next biggest, Liverpool Street (17 platform faces) has 6 exit tracks. Yet there still seem to be frequent operational difficulties causing much frustration for travellers!
The solution is simple. Let those people that can do their job from home do just that. That would cut the traffic into the city by 40% and you wouldn't need this big of a project.
NYC would crumble.. hence the big corporate pushes for return to office. somebody’s gotta prop up the NYC commercial real estate market, fill those towers, and drain workers of their time and money!
4:38 - I am reassured to see that Senator Menendez is involved :)
U got what u voted for NJ.
He'll see the completion from jail.
Hopefully he donates some of those gold bars Egypt is bribing him with towards the project.
@@AD-gd2wy he knows that he’s in the correct political party so nothing will ever happen to him.
It’s cute seeing people take shots at Mendez while completely disregarding all the crook republicans… meanwhile Melendez is being held accountable. Funny how Democrats are held to a higher standard… OH yeah, and don’t forget, between crook Christie and crook Donald… they tried their damndest to completely derail the project featured in this video. Talk about political criminals with nothing but contempt for the American people who pay their bills while they… uh don’t… then whine and complain incessantly about *finally* being held accountable.
How in the hell a little bridge cost $2B. 90% profit margin, contracts with government seems like the most efficient business in America
I always love going by a construction site and seeing 1-2 workers actually working and all the rest are just standing around, hands in their pockets watching.
It's New Jersey. When it's finished it'll probably have cost $4 billion.
2B seems cheap. Skilled labor isn't cheap. Chinas 3 gorges damn is a swirly line cause they hired non union workers and used subpar materials. So you get what you pay for. These workers all make 65+ an hour. You won't do it cause you can't so dont undermind skilled labor. It's not coming out of your pocket.
They showed the criminal Senator Menendez briefly. It's a good reminder of where your money may be going.
@@israel984actually it’s coming out of every tax payers pocket.
Great project. Long overdue even at that inflated price tag. The cheapest day to build anything is yesterday as they say. The next cheapest? Today...
the tunnels would have been by now if Chis Christie didn't pull out of the project at the last minute. Back then, interest rates were ridiculously low.
Remember Gov Chris Cristy put a stop to this project years ago.
ARC was canceled by Christie.
yup… but also for somewhat valid reasons too. NJ should not have been expected to foot an unequal portion of the bill… especially with Amtrak owning the NEC tracks (and doing a horrible job managing the NEC over the last idk how many decades). Then of course inbred braindead pedo donald chump used it as a political dig and killed off any federal funding for the project… so anyway… as usual it’s left to Democrats to get anything productive and beneficial done. Example number 9872228818239593 This project should have broke ground 15 years ago, included 6 tubes, and involved the relocation of MSG so that a proper station could be built. Busiest and most important train station in the country and what did we get?… a little bonus hall that doesn’t even add capacity or serve NJT (the majority of commuters), and ESA… a criminally inflated vanity project where the LI MTA bigwigs said… let’s build a new station for ourselves so we can just straight up avoid Penn Station… oh yeah and take trains away from Atlantic terminal in Brooklyn (you know, the largest borough and largest growing).
It was a different plan that would have included a separate terminal for NJ Transit. Because of that the plan was nicknamed Access to Macy's basement. Christie canceled it claiming cost overruns then refused to return federal funds sent to New Jersey to begin work on it.
Awesome video Penn station isn't that terrible, it's getting better. Also the newer moynihan train hall is amazing
This video doesn't take into account the upgrade of Penn Station that's almost complete. Certainly not a total fix, but quite an improvement.
2:35 offside: Stephen Sigmund could be a basso (low opera singer)! Amazing deep resonance; and you Regis, a baritone (male mid-range) with your tone quality & clarity. Bravi🎉 Bravissimi🎉🎉!
"Arguably one of America's most important cities." Damn, this guy's bold
Everyone knows the real cultural and economic powerhouse of the US - Omaha, Nebraska.
This project is long overdue and has been delayed by politicians enough
"[New York] is arguably one of America's most important cities...". Who would argue against that?
Clearly [XXXXXXX, MI] is the most valuable city in America--until I move somewhere else, perhaps [XXXXXX, WI, Population XXXX].
Stupid people who hate all cities
Thanks for a great video! You've earned a new subscriber today.
I realize and appreciate the necessity to fix the issues mentioned in this video. But the real elephant in the room is the fact that no one seems to remember that Hurricane Sandy gave New York a black eye not so long ago, and no one seems to want to do anything about it. By not having hurricane barriers at the Verrazano Bridge (and other ocean inlets), New York is doomed to experience a repeat of the devastation (and expense) that occurred, especially at the Battery.
Even the heavy rains last year showed how the storm sewer system is completely inadequate. Nobody willing to do what needs to be done. That city is heading towards disaster in many ways lately.
I find it interesting in all discussions abt Project Gateway that we're making believe we havent just spent $5-6B on a Penn St renovation that started just before covid and is not even finished yet. The new entrances and hallways are not depicted in the drawings as if it will just be torn down and redone. Might as well since not 1 penny of it was spent on NJ Transit which is the same crapezoid as ever.
Wow great job putting this video together 🎉😊
Awesome video from MegaBuilds
Didn’t Elon pay $44 billion for Twitter? This is nothing compared to that! Maybe we need to reevaluate our idea of valuation and invest in our country for the future.
The only difference, he was able to acquire it in a very short time. This tunnel will probably take 20-40 years to complete. This is just the reality of infrastructure projects in the usa.
Because elon wouldn’t directly benefit from that and it seems rich people can only think short term
This is a must!
Bring back a retro looking construction of the original Penn Station
As a NJ resident who would have benefited greatly from the ARC plan, politics didn't derail the original ARC plan, it was your complete lack of a plan to fund it. It was drastically underfunded for a state that already had a transportation budget crisis. As you can tell from the drastically increased current projected costs (which I'm sure will also go WAY over budget) there was no way to pay for it. As it is state benefits for employees and teachers has also been drastically cut and that was never reversed. Failure to plan ahead and properly set aside money from the budget for these things was a problem that spans longer than most of our lifetimes and to dismiss this and lay it at the feet of "politics by people who aren't here anymore" is... well exactly the kinds of PR BS I would expect form the PR department of the project.
I sincerely think that the Bergen loop should not be built except for local service. Already these are 2 low radius bends with necessary leapfrogs (because level switches with shearing of the tracks are not ideal). In addition, the proposed service would congest the Hudson tunnel which would ultimately only have 4 tracks, if I understood correctly. Except to make the NEC viable we need 2 tracks dedicated to the Acela service. In the end, the tunnels of the Hudson must have 6 tracks MINIMUM!!! (2 for Acela and 4 for commuter lines). For the line ending at Hoboken terminal, well we need a new tunnel starting upstream of this station create an underground station (3 tracks, 2 central platforms) pass under the Hudson and then perform a role similar to an RER/REM, serving connecting metro lines in Soho, Chinatown and Lower East Side. Second tunnel, then serving Brooklyn via an axis not yet used by the metro (Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York station, Lindenwood, JFK Airport). That is 25km of tunnels and resumption of the MNBN lines to Ridgewood via Paterson with electrification of the lines, extension of the platforms and transformation of the terminal station (Raising of the station, installation of a viaduct before and after the tracks, upgrading to 4 tracks 2 platforms central with double track junction upstream and downstream). No branches on the line, to avoid complicated lines. Ambitious but necessary. A large East-West radial with EMUs 200m long and a speed of 120kph. Price 15 billion.
100% agree
Too bad Brooklyn has no trains from NJ.
Very informative video. Remember the 2 tunnel and Penn Station build in 1910, where built with privet money of the PRR.
👍 good interview
Of course, once they reach the “point of no return” on this project, that’s when you will see the costs really explode. What used to be 2 billion dollars will gradually become 6 billion. See “The Big Dig” for a perfect example of how this kind of public works project becomes a huge money sink. Then follow the money to see who really skims off the cash and who really benefits.
Re: East Side Access
Congress finally cut MA off and said no more federal funds (i.e. confiscated tax dollars from other states) for the Big Dig. The final cost was nearly four times that of original estimates.
Coming from Europe and have used Penn Station I totally agree that it was a terrible experience. The amazing thing is it’s taken so long to get to this situation where something get done. I guess trains are not import to the USA except for the metropolitan areas. I do wonder what US citizens would think if they saw the European rail system with its modern and refurbished stations.
Especially the amazing Zürich Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) in Zurich, Switzerland. It has (according to Wikipedia) 26 tracks and can be enjoyed using a 24-hour webcam. It is a model of efficiency, cleanliness and being able to successfully move dozens of trains every 10 minutes.
Great information thanks
Watching this video in Penn station
They should dig 4 new tunnels and permanently abandon the current.
Good to see these projects underway. Penn Station itself has seen some important improvements already: the 33rd Street Corridor was reconstructed and looks very good. The LIRR has a new entrance and escalators on 7th Avenue. New Jrsey Transit's concourse and waiting area have been rebuilt and improved. Of course, the subway stations serving Penn are ADA-compliant.
Having the whole northeast corridor passing through Manhattan without building any bypass routes just seems absurd :/ in Japan it would have already been expanded so much times throughout the century, maybe getting eight to nine tracks under the river
Apples to Oranges. America is not a country on a congested island, we have a massive amount of land to expand.
Long Island to CT tunnels (both for cars and trains) and Brooklyn to NJ tunnels would help a lot with NYC congestion
Can't wait for the "and this is how we'll pay for it" part. Printer go burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Why construction costs are so high in the US? I saw this video and one bridge will cost USD$1.8 Bn. In perspective this amount is nearly all the cost of commuter railway projects in Greater Santiago, Chile (2 lines with 80 kms in total). By other hand, this investment for NYC transport is really mandatory. Good video and explanation
New Jersey / New York politicians are the most corrupt in the developed world that’s why
Inflation
@@SKS8080 I don't really think it's just that, but more so the cost of both labor and materials.
@@jayc1139 welcome to Joe Bidens America.
This is NYC, everything is expensive there.
I think that the City has since 1964 realized that the demolition of the legacy art deco building ( built back in 1910 ) has been a colossal mistake. It was actually bigger than the current structure
I live a stone's throw away from Newark Penn station and used to work in NYC for quite some time. I definitely understand the challenges to improve the surrounding transit system. Is the gateway program a good idea? Idk, but this was a great video regardless, very informative and very well put together.
Having travelled in europe alot with trains the journey from Washington to NY was like memory from past. The feeling I got from the travel was that not many people use the trains, the infrastructure is from 1980s and approach of New York city with two local trains spotted felt like approaching some 50k european city with skyscrapers.
Actually, NY Penn Station's footprint was expanded in 2019 when Moynihan Train Hall opened. However, that part of the station only has access to tracks used by LIRR and Amtrak, so NJ Transit passengers are still stuck in the rats nest below Madison Square Garden.
From my office, it is less walking to get into Moynihan hall, and can theoretically get down to train tracks and board the NJ Transit train, but Amtrak won’t allow notice boards to display NJTransit track info, and NJTransit app doesn’t update in time either. So I am forced to walk extra, get into the Penn station rats nest and board my train. NYC wants NJ residents to commute in, work and pay the heavy NY taxes, but won’t do the bare minimum to make our lives easier.
I've been on NJ Transit trains from NJ to NY that dropped me off at the new Moynihan Terminal.
@@larrymatrale1368 yes. I do that too. In the evening, I go from NY back to NJ. That is where Moynihan, although near to office, is useless.
That was by design… MTA and Amtrak have done their very best to snub NJT at every turn of every aspect of this entire project and relevant projects. Now with the congestion pricing the city is implementing as well… meanwhile none of the public transportation infrastructure is up to par… and well… suffices to say NJ should start implementing fees and whatnot on the Amtrak lines that go through our state… etc. Enough is enough.
You barely touched on Moynihan hall being done! The Acela and LIRR tracks over there are beautiful.
"Arguably one of the US's most important cities"
They need 6 tracks not 4.
Love it how he says "Has to be done before the end if the year" aka if pumpkinface ever makes it into the Whitehouse it'll be canceled again 😂
A lot of Republicans are so mired in cultural issues, they can’t ever get to governing and building.
REGIS!!!! BUDDDY NO WAY!!! I miss you, dawg! how you been? remember frisbee together? damn its been a minute! im proud of you homie!
"it's arguably one of America's most important cities" wow that's a real hot take right there
U deserve a new sub :)
Just found this channel, the idea is really interesting I insta subbed, but I AM SHOCKED to see 2 of the youtubers I grew watching to be in the channel's banner? WTF BRO AHAHA Sirius and Hectic :)
Thank you 🙏 I will believe it after 👏👏👏great 👍🇺🇸idea 😃👍🎥👋☮️
You know how much tourism would be attracted if they would open up an Amtrak in Michigan and in northern Michigan up in the up from Wisconsin
Zero. Zilch. No one is spending all day traveling in a train when they can fly there in 2 hours. I swear, people like you have no critical thinking skills, you simply parrot what you hear.
Would love to know why it costs 10 times as much to build something like this compared to Europe or Asia.
We know why. Kickbacks to political leaders. Kickbacks for the Unions. Kickbacks for the city, Kickbacks for the Construction company, etc. They ALL have their hand in the cookie jar. Remember, Trump outed the entire system in NYC!
It's the golden shovels 😂
I am on board with the plan, and I believe it will benefit the tri-state area and beyond. I wish it would have been established long time ago and will would have seen the benefits today.
Knowing nyc construction ( helped build the Eastside access project at Grand Central Station) it will cost twice as much and take 3x longer. You’ll see….
Agreed!
Just want to say this video was done very well, and the interview was a welcome addition. Interesting stuff.
Great that it finally moves along! And it will surely be a breath of fresh air for commuters and NEC travelers. But there's one thing that must be addressed and it is the outrageous cost of infrastructure in the US in general and New York in particular. Sure, politics play a huge role in the fact that projects are delayed, rethought, postponed, cancelled, relaunched, etc. But if costs were more reasonable, like in Europe (except UK, obviously), projects would much more easily get support up to completion. Nothing really justifies that a stretch of subway or cross river tunnel is 3 to 10 times more expensive in the US or New York than in Paris, Berlin or Madrid. (And no, it's not the wages as it's usually PPP adjusted and employer tax charges reduce the difference anyway). Right now, Paris is massively expanding the size of its metro by 200km (125mi), of which 90% or 180km (112mi) are bored deep underground, with 4 entirely new express lines and 2 extensions of existing lines, plus 84 fancy new stations and something like 220 new fully automated extra trains just for the new lines. All this for about 40B dollars, with a completion in 2030 or 2032 and a first opening in 2025. It's called the Grand Paris Express and it is expected to increase ridership by over 3 million rides daily. The comparison with the 2nd Avenue subway's cost per mile or kilometer and per station, or even per rider, is quite stark. And that's an understatement. As much as I am a transit advocate and strong supporter, I can understand that some people may be wary of the cost given how much it is inflated. Sure, I'm super happy that these projects in NYC finally progress but the excessive cost problem remains and it can't continue like that or it will severely restrict the possibility of future projects. The process must be overhauled completely so that projects come at a more normal cost comparable to other developed countries. Then projects will be popping out left and right, I'm sure of that. Great video, very informative and interesting!
Corruption is the answer!
@@Uiiiiuybn The reason you mean? 🤣 Apparently it's more an issue with the process itself, as it was outlined by NYU's Transit Costs Project. There are inefficiencies, problematic regulations, bad practices, excessive recourse to privatization of risk, excessive contingency padding, and many other reasons that end up compounding each other. Plus excessive litigation, which is a major problem, whereas in most of Europe debates are done before "fixing" the project to define and amend it, then it is declared of public interest by a commission, which extinguishes the majority of lawsuits (exceptions are for non conformity to environmental regulations, etc). In most of Europe, there's a lot of preliminary stuff that is prepared, so that there are much less surprises later. In the US, the result is that projects like a basic surface train line or LRT line end up costing as much or even more than a deep underground luxurious fully automated heavy metro line in Europe. I've seen at grade LRT lines in the US costing as much as Rennes (France) metro line B (a fully automated light metro mostly in tunnels). It's common to see a 10km tram line in Europe costing 300 to 500 millions in total.
Great overview of the plans. Hopefully some will materialize. It's too bad Secaucus couldn't be a gigantic connection point for all non Manhattan destinations (Boston--DC). Only place in the region with space!
Russia: longest in Europe bridge in 2.5 years US: take my beer, planning a tunnel 13 years...
That engineer they interviewed proved he didn't know what he was talking about. 12,000V signal cables? WTF?!!!! The 12,000V cables are for traction power to the trains.
I was a signalman about 30 years ago for Amtrak along the NEC from philly to penn station. Signal for these electric trains are 6000 volts AC, with the overhead catenary at 12000, stepped down to 6000. NYC subway third rail trains run on 700 volts AC. I was mostly a freight railroader. Those signals were 12volts DC. Much safer to work on and around
"arguably one of America's most important cities" is a laughable understatement
keep the good work
Biggest failure was not extending this to Grand Central and allowing NJ Transit ability to bring riders there.
It is America’s single most important train line in the Northeast Corridor!
The fact that infrastructure and components from +100 years ago are still holding up trains is a testament to engineering of the time. You would NOT find that today with how low cost and forced obsolescence everything is.
Well produced
the economic impact of the Hudson River rail tunnels cannot be circumscribed. It's incumbent not just on the State and local governments to get this done. The Feds need to commit to getting it done
This has been.proposed since the 90's And of course all agencies involved NY, NJ, MTA, NJ Transit, Port Authority, etc. have their hands out for more pet projects to go along with it.
What do you propose as an alternate? Eliminate public transit agencies so the only form of transit in major metro areas is the automobile?
@@evanstauffer4470 No. Have used Septa and NJ Transit around here for decades. The problem now is they have become almost purely political agencies, and lost sight of their responsibility to function in the public interest. And the politicians aren't scared. They know theynwill.alwsyd have a place to reward themselves and their friends with plum jobs, and number of people who rely on the buses and trains is not enough votes to sway an election. Example: Recently the Septa board canceled a contract with a Chinese manufacturer's American plant, for new railcars. The deal was proposed more than five years ago, and with pandemic cancellations, delays, missteps, etc. never happened. But they had to admit they already spent $ 50 million dollars on it. The equivalent of $ 1 million a week for a year, lost to " waste." And with no accountability to the transit - riding public.
It's embarrassing how bad we are at building things lately :-(
it is harder when Christ Christie pulled out of the tunnels constructions in 2010 and then trump blocked any money to build the tunnels during his presidency.
@@the0ne809 Yeah, Biden will get it done. He's a doer, not a talker.
@@the0ne809 10 million plus plus migrant encounters later after Senator Schumer refused in 2018 the southern wall with Mexico plan of Trump’s. This new tunnel will not be enough if the border remains wide open.
@@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome Senator Schumer refused to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico.
I guess my takeaway from the new tunnel project is, if Penn Station's old tracks will still be the limiting factor on line efficiency and speed even with the new tunnels, then why not send the new tunnels to a different station a couple miles away? If a new (or upgraded) central station were added to the system at the same time as the new tunnels, then it would be easier to reroute rail traffic around Penn as the old tunnels and Penn Station (and perhaps some of its old tracks) are remodeled which would speed the renovations up by years and make the entire system far more flexible and efficient once all the projects are complete.
sounds like good news for the building trades
what i do not understand is, usa build and build, but when it comes to maintenance then there is no money... you are not only ruin yourself but also further generations for the sake of a handful of dollars...
New York City is an on-going set of problems that never comes to an end. I'm from the NYC area originally. FROM, as in 'I'll never go back there again'. Also, you mentioned Robert Menendez. Do you have anyone else in your report who isn't currently under federal indictment or an agent of a foreign government?
ARC was not killed by politics. It was killed because it morphed into something that was not what was originally intended and the price tag was swelling by the billions even before the the first shovel. ARC was originally intended to follow the same path as the current Gateway project with a connection to Grand Central Station. But New York State took too long on their end so New Jersey decided to just focus on a total connection to Penn Station for their NJ Transit System. This new plan no longer meant a run through line on the Manhattan through Penn Station and onto Grand Central, instead, the new ARC project would be a 2 track tunnel descending 500 ft below the streets of Manhattan to avoid all the foundation infrastructure.... to a dead end NJ transit terminal just north of Penn Station. People wishing to access from New York Penn Station would either have to cross 34th Street or take the Concours underneath and then take a long escalator for elevators to the sand over 500 ft down to the platforms the equivalent of going down 40 stories. Absolutely ridiculous. It was a zero benefit to New Yorkers and bypassed Penn Station to the north and underneath.
A very exciting video with interesting information about this major project in New York and New Jersey 👍 As someone who comes from a rail-friendly country, I can say that the expansion and modernization of the rail infrastructure is worthwhile. I am pleased to see that major rail projects are also being planned in the USA. These investments will benefit rail travelers as well as the economy and the environment. Greetings from the railroad country Switzerland 🇨🇭🙋♂🤗
I had a chance last year to experience Switzerland's rail system, it was awesome! I'm an ex-New Yorker, but go back often, hope they get this done.
@@VincentBurke-iv3xj Glad to hear that you had a great experience with the Swiss rail system 😀👍