Quote:
Originally Posted by nito
Whilst there is something to admire from NY Penn managing such high passenger volumes with limited resources, there is ultimately little to celebrate from a station that is dilapidated, a poor experience unbefitting of a world city and unable to cope with current let alone future demands.
Waterloo managed just shy of 100mn with 19 tracks before it underwent a small expansion project and now has 24 (ridership dipped during the reconstruction but is forecast to grow substantially). Gare du Nord is busier but has more platforms. Of course, London and Paris have several termini station in the central core which distribute significantly higher volumes overall as well as through-running routes. Beyond the improved visual aesthetics, these stations also tend to have wider platforms, concourses capable of handling larger volumes of people, as well as more access points to aid in distribution of passengers. It also helps to have modern rolling-stock with walk-through carriages and wide doors for quick alighting.
The two recurring problems facing commuter rail into New York are:
i) the lack of access points (just 10 tracks for LIRR, MNR and NJT) into Manhattan, and
ii) the lack of through running (the exception being Amtrak) which would drastically increase capacity by increasing platform utilisation.
From an outsider’s perspective, the likes of East Side Access and Penn South come across as bloated projects with limited resolution to resolving regional issues. Everywhere else is moving away from increasing terminal commuter rail capacity because it isn’t an effective use of resources.
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East Side Access will shift most of the LIRR ridership away from Penn and some of the E train ridership. But for whatever reason the LIRR still intends on running full service to Penn despite ridership project to decrease by 60%. It also plans on gutting service to Atlantic Terminal in favor of a shuttle service. I don't think there is a high demand for through running , and you'll have a very hard time convincing the agencies that its worth while. NJT has billions in backlogged projects before it could even handle high capacity / frequent trains that would be required for through running.