The bottom two photos are not Harold interlocking itself BUT they will feed LIRR trains between Harold Interlocking & the ESA terminal deep underneath GCT. The photos are also not current, not even for Jan 2014 date of the report the page was snipped from.

In addition, the bottom tunnel in the bottom right photo does not pass through HI but connects to Sunnyside Yards itself. The new ESA terminal does NOT have a train storage area deep underground and will use Sunnyside Yards as the mid-day storage area for the evening rush hour trains. So the stored trains will have to be brought in to the ESA terminal via one of the two tubes under the Hudson/Roosevelt Island, while the evening rush trains are being flushed out via the other tube.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7306/...bbba7f64_b.jpg

The current Penn Station has an almost 30-year old improvement to the ESA evening procedure, namely the LIRR's West Side Storage Yard. The WSSY was built west of the Penn Station bathtub, the now-mostly overbuilt excavation blasted into Manhattan bedrock by the Pennsylvania RR in the 190Xs. The WSSY is being overbuilt now by Realted/Tutor-Perini in the Hudson Yards development. The last remaining open-to-the sky section of the original Penn Station bathtub is being overbuilt by Brookfield in the Manhattan West development.

Harold Interlocking is the busiest in the nation, btw.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.1810750

Great! Our muscle car lover governor wants the arena to stay along with the ancient sheldon silver. :yuck:

Oh and get rid of the asbestos infested arena.:cheers:

We all may hate the location of the current MSG. But you obviously haven't been inside it since it's transformation. It's really amazing and brand new.

With that being said, I would like to see it gone from the location, but let's start talking about MSG like it's a dump. It's the nicest sports venue we have in the tri-state area now (for all levels of fans)

MSG, even after the renovation, remains a dump. The exterior hasn't changed at all, and the interior, while improved, is still a mess.

Barclays is easily the best arena, then Prudential Center, then MSG. MSG can't be demolished soon enough.

I'm not talking about the exterior. There isn't much they can do about that without building a whole new arena.

Inside MSG is really impressive. I've been to Barclays, it's okay, but what's really great about it. There's nothing interesting. Prudential is nice too, but it's very standard like the arena in DC.

At least with the new MSG, the seating bowl is completely updated. The concourses are double the size. Everything is tiled. They've opened up sections so you can see outside. The scoreboard is state of the art. If the Chase Bridges are your thing, that is something interesting that no other arena has. And they kept the iconic ceiling, which if you look up at the Barclays rafters you will see dark nothingness.

MSG Renovation
 

I do not know how it was lit prior to the renovation, but during a HNIC telecast in an aerial shot of MSG the building had a very nice exterior lighting scheme that I had never seen before.

Gold coloured vertical pillars lit from below, very nice.

Go Rangers Go!:cheers:

Prior to the transformation the arena was straight out of the 1960s. Tourist who would sit next to me at games would always comment about how this could be The World's Most Famous Arena.

says a dolan's spokesman

penn fast food joints to be booted out for a duane reade:

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...d-joints-to-go

Dang! I've drunk beer at the LIRR concourse TGIF bar.
The world keeps changing, even the bowels of NY Penn Station.

lol i know - i dont take this as a good move. i hope 'tracks' stays, but i bet it gets the boot too. hope not!

Change in midtown Manhattan is inevitable. The loss of a bar or a few bars in the bowels of Penn Station is nothing compared to what the residential neighbors of the Manhattan West or the Hudson Yards developments are going through now.

Maybe I'll have to take the LIRR into Penn and wonder around to take a bunch of photos...

The link below has a recent, minuscule sample of the increasing demands being placed on the bowels of Penn Station. In this case, Asbury Park, (NJ) area residents trying to get single-seat rides to/from NY Penn via NJ Transit dual-mode locomotives. For those not familiar with NY Penn, operating diesel locomotives are banned from NY Penn and the tunnels leading to it. In the old days, this meant changing between electric and diesel trains at Jamaica, NY or Newark Penn station, etc. DM locomotives make it more convenient to take the train to/from NY Penn and, AFAIK, boost ridership on these lines. NJT also shares Amtrak's two tunnels under the Hudson River; the construction of Amtrak's Gateway tunnels (2 more) would help relieve congestion, allow upgrades, etc. on the 2 existing Hudson River tunnels which have been in service for ~104 years. The construction of the concrete casing "place holder" for the future multi-billion Gateway project is one of projects ongoing in the Hudson Yards project...

However, I hope these NJT trains are longer than the single car length shown in the photo.

http://asburyparksun.com/coalition-r...train-service/

AND July's Harper's magazine (pay wall) has an article on "The lost glory of America's railroads" which of course loops through NY Penn Station, but uses the short Empire Connection tuunnel under the LIRR's WSSY/"Hudson Yards"

http://harpers.org/archive/2014/07/2...ntury-limited/

http://harpers.org/wp-content/upload...07-302x410.png
"Advertisement for the NY Central" via Harpers.org.
Someplace along the east bank of Hudson River, with the Bear Mountain Bridge in the background, I assume. The broke NY Central merged with the broke Pennsylvania RR in the 1960's and went bankrupt, etc. Note the 4 tracks along the Hudson in the old ad.

Plan to sell Moynihan Station air rights inches forward

New York state's chief economic development arm awards Massey Knakal Realty Services the contract to broker the sale of 1.5 million square feet of building rights that is expected to yield more than $100 million. Funds would be used to help pay for construction of a new rail station in the Farley Post Office across from Penn Station.


BY ERIK IPSEN
JUNE 27, 2014 1:22 P.M.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...nches-forward#

Penn Station is a 'pit,' MTA board member says in calling for improvements to be made

BY Pete Donohue
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The faster something is done to improve Penn Station, the better.

Ok, can someone please clear something up for me? I understand that Phase I of expanding concourses under Farely and building new entrances is under way and that MSG's lease has been limited. What is to become of Farley? Will it (eventually) be a new train hall as depicted in previous pages?

Also, four of the city's best firms released visions for a "New Penn Station" a little while back. (I think SHoP's is the best and most feasible, realistic proposal). If the state decided to tare down MSG to make way for a new concourse/ terminal, would the plans for Farley become void? Is it one or the other, or could both projects eventually happen?

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...jp1-sfSpan.jpg

Yes, Farley will be a new train hall. The exact layout/design is yet to be determined. It will likely be mostly NJ Transit and Metro North.

But the long term plan is for Amtrak to move southward, underneath the blocks to the south, where a new concourse would serve a second Hudson River tunnel.

And LIRR plans expansion too.
Totally separate projects. Farley will happen 100%, but if MSG is demolished, then that site will be developed too, with a huge concourse, probably, but really for the massive development rights.

Oh, I see. Thank you so much for clearing that up!

The following is from Amtrak's INK publication, June 2014. IMHO the conversion of the Farley Post Office to "Moynihan Station" is the closest to being realized this decade. The bolding and italics is mine:
The invocation of Skanska & PANYNJ (management role) is WRT the current Phase I under the east side of Farley and through portions of the eastern facade. Skanksa was recently tearing up the iconic steps up from 8th Ave to Farley. I assume that was in prep for doing a cut & cover to expand the West End Concourse under the steps/sidewalk.

The June 29th j-biz photo below is looking ~north at the northern end of the Farley PO 8th Ave facade/steps & shows the beginnings? of this work to the steps:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/29/t...l/yduhazed.jpg
j-biz of ssc

Did $1 Billion renovation budget include asbestos removal from the building?


http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/28/bu...s-shunned.html

Buildings With Asbestos Shunned

By ERIC N. BERG
Published: April 28, 1988