fbpx
Wikipedia

West Side Yard

October 22, 2023

The West Side Yard (officially the John D. Caemmerer West Side Yard) is a rail yard of 30 tracks owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. Used to store commuter rail trains operated by the subsidiary Long Island Rail Road, the 26.17-acre (10.59 ha) yard sits between West 30th Street, West 33rd Street, 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue.

The West Side Yard, between Penn Station and the Hudson River, as it appeared before the Hudson Yards real estate development project broke ground in 2012.

The yard includes storage tracks, a six-track indoor shop for light maintenance, a 12-car long platform for car cleaning, and lockers and a break room for employees. The yard sits at the north end of the High Line, a former elevated freight railroad converted into a park, and south of the truck marshalling yard used by the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. It also sits just south of the 34th Street–Hudson Yards subway station, which opened in 2015.

Before the yard opened in 1987, rush-hour trains to or from Penn Station had to run without passengers to storage yards on Long Island, where the trains were stored during middays. The West Side Yard increased the LIRR's rush hour capacity at Penn Station.

History Edit

 
Looking east across the West Side Yard toward Penn Station

The 26.17-acre (10.59 ha) site is bounded by between West 30th Street, West 33rd Street, 10th Avenue, and 12th Avenue.[1][2] Around 1851, the Hudson River Railroad built the yard as a depot for a line running down Eleventh Avenue, as trains were not permitted to operate south of West 32nd Street. New York Central and later Penn Central expanded the rail yards and used them as a freight terminal up until the 1970s when Penn Central declared bankruptcy and its Manhattan properties were put up for sale.[3] The rail yard was acquired by the State of New York. The northern portion was used for construction of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the southern portion became a train-storage yard used by the Long Island Rail Road.

The yard was built because limited storage capacity at Penn Station forced LIRR trains to make non-passenger trips, or "deadheads", to storage yards on Long Island. These deadheads took up track space, thus limiting capacity on lines heading toward Penn Station[3][4] The yard opened in 1987, immediately increasing train capacity through Penn Station.[5] The West Side Yard is named after John D. Caemmerer, a New York State Senator from East Williston who helped obtain $195.7 million for its construction.[3]

During construction, a tunnel was built under some of the east-west tracks, allowing Amtrak trains from Penn Station to turn north and travel to Upstate New York via the West Side Line.[3] Amtrak trains began using this tunnel on April 7, 1991; before this, Empire Service trains originated from Grand Central Terminal.[6]

Air rights Edit

 
Platforms (lower right) being constructed over the eastern portion of the rail yard in 2015.

There has been a long series of proposals to develop the rail yard air rights, including for a major expansion of Midtown Manhattan by William Zeckendorf in the 1950s[7] and for a housing development considered by U.S. Steel in the 1960s.[8] The West Side Yard was designed with space left between the tracks for columns to support development in air rights above the tracks.[3] Madison Square Garden considered a possible move to the site in the mid-1980s.[9][10] In the 1990s the air rights were considered as a possible location for a New York Yankees stadium.[11] The rail yard air rights were proposed by the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics as the location for the media center, Olympic plaza, and Olympic Stadium, to be occupied afterward by the New York Jets.[12][13]

The eastern portion of the West Side Yard (east of 11th Avenue) was rezoned for residential and commercial use in January 2005 as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project. Following the defeat of the proposal to construct the West Side Stadium, the western portion of the rail yard was rezoned to accommodate residential and commercial development in December 2009.[14][15][16] Construction started in December 2012. To support massive towers and other elements, a platform was built above the rail yard.[17]

Tunnel box Edit

 
View of West Side Yard from 33rd Street

The Gateway Project is a proposal to build a high-speed rail corridor to alleviate the bottleneck along the Northeast Corridor between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City. To avoid a potential conflict[18] between the Gateway Project and the Hudson Yards project, which broke ground in late 2012, Amtrak officials said in February 2013 that a right-of-way would be preserved through the Hudson Yards project by construction of a tunnel underneath, to be financed by $120 million to $150 million in federal funds.[19][20][21] In June 2013, the US Department of Transportation announced that $183 million had been dedicated to the "tunnel box" as part of Hurricane Sandy recovery funding.[22][23][24]

The underground concrete casing is 800 ft (240 m) long, 50 ft (15 m) wide, and approximately 35 ft (11 m) tall.[25] Amtrak awarded Tutor Perini a $133 million contract to build a section of box tunnel.[26] Construction started in December 2014 and was nearing completion as of July 2017, though funding disputes stalled the tunnel box's completion.[27] The tunnel box was substantially complete by November 2017.[28] The following phase would extend the casing between 11th and 12th Avenue as the development of Hudson Yards continues westward.[29]

Amtrak, NJ Transit, and the MTA have applied to the Federal Transit Administration for a $65 million matching grant for another 105 ft (32 m) long structure to preserve the right-of-way at 11th Avenue in Manhattan[30][31] under a viaduct that was rehabilitated in 2009–2011.[32][33]

See also Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ "West Side Rail Yard (Request for Proposals for Development)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 13, 2007. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  2. ^ "2004 Annual Report" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. p. 66. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d e Voboril, Mary (March 26, 2005). . Newsday. New York. Archived from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  4. ^ Doherty, Matthew (November 7, 2004). "Far West Side Story". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  5. ^ Blumenthal, Ralph (February 21, 1984). "Problems Halt Laying of Pipe at L.I.R.R. Project". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  6. ^ "Travel Advisory; Grand Central Trains Rerouted To Penn Station". The New York Times. April 7, 1991. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  7. ^ Crowell, Paul (January 6, 1956). "Palace' Plan Out; Bigger One Urged" (PDF). The New York Times.
  8. ^ Bedingfield, Robert E. (August 4, 1964). "U.S. Steel Weighs Midtown Project" (PDF). The New York Times.
  9. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (December 16, 2000). "Move Possible for Garden (But Where?". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "Owners of Garden Said to Weigh Building New Arena Further West". The New York Times. December 28, 1985. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  11. ^ Barry, Dan (April 20, 1998). "Mayor Making Case for Yanks on West Side". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  12. ^ Barry, Dan (January 15, 1999). "Giuliani Offers Plan to Put Up Sports Complex". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  13. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (November 27, 2011). "From Ashes of Olympic Bid, a Future Rises for the Far West Side". The New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  14. ^ Purnick, Joyce (January 20, 2005). "What Rises in the West? Uncertainty". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  15. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (December 21, 2009). "Rezoning Will Allow Railyard Project to Advance". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
  16. ^ "MTA Finalizes Hudson Yards Deal". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. May 26, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
  17. ^ Stockton, Nick (March 24, 2014). "A Plan to Build Skyscrapers That Barely Touch the Ground". Wired. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  18. ^ Marritz, Ilya (September 28, 2012). "Sen. Schumer: Fast Action Needed for New Amtrak Tunnel". Transportation Nation. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
  19. ^ Sichert, Bill (March 5, 2013). "Amtrak to construct 'tunnel box' for Hudson River rail project to cross Manhattan development". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  20. ^ Samtani, HIten (February 26, 2013). "Related, Amtrak to construct rail tunnel between Manhattan and NJ". The Real Deal. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  21. ^ Cuozzo, Steve (February 26, 2013). "Fed money keeps rail tunnel alive". The New York Post. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  22. ^ Magyar, Mark J. (October 21, 2013). "NJ Faces Hefty Price Ta for Rail Tunnel, Transportation Projects". NJ Spotlight. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  23. ^ Hinds, Kate (May 30, 2013). "Second Trans-Hudson Tunnel Gets Some Real Money". Transportation Nation. WNYC. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  24. ^ Hawkins, Andrew (May 30, 2013). "Hudson train tunnel project gets kickstart". Crain's. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  25. ^ , Federal Railroad Administration, March 2013, archived from the original on December 2, 2013, retrieved September 23, 2015
  26. ^ "Contract awarded for New York rail tunnel". Construction Index. September 7, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
  27. ^ Corasaniti, Nick (July 20, 2017). "Part of Hudson Yards Tunnels Is Nearly Done. Now It Sits, Unused". The New York Times. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  28. ^ (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 25, 2019. p. 50. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  29. ^ "Hudson Yard Right-of-Way Preservation Project | nec.amtrak.com". nec.amtrak.com. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  30. ^ Higgs, Larry (September 1, 2014). "Amtrak: New tunnels needed after Sandy damage". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  31. ^ Maag, Christopher (September 21, 2014). "Signs of life stir for rail tunnel under Hudson". The Record. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
  32. ^ "11th Avenue Viaduct Over LIRR Yard West 30th to West 33rd Streets" (PDF). NYC Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  33. ^ (PDF). Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 13, 2008. Retrieved September 3, 2014.

External links Edit

  •   Media related to West Side Yard at Wikimedia Commons

40°45′16″N 74°00′11″W / 40.75444°N 74.00306°W / 40.75444; -74.00306

October 22, 2023
west, side, yard, officially, john, caemmerer, rail, yard, tracks, owned, metropolitan, transportation, authority, west, side, manhattan, york, city, used, store, commuter, rail, trains, operated, subsidiary, long, island, rail, road, acre, yard, sits, between. The West Side Yard officially the John D Caemmerer West Side Yard is a rail yard of 30 tracks owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on the west side of Manhattan in New York City Used to store commuter rail trains operated by the subsidiary Long Island Rail Road the 26 17 acre 10 59 ha yard sits between West 30th Street West 33rd Street 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue The West Side Yard between Penn Station and the Hudson River as it appeared before the Hudson Yards real estate development project broke ground in 2012 The yard includes storage tracks a six track indoor shop for light maintenance a 12 car long platform for car cleaning and lockers and a break room for employees The yard sits at the north end of the High Line a former elevated freight railroad converted into a park and south of the truck marshalling yard used by the Jacob K Javits Convention Center It also sits just south of the 34th Street Hudson Yards subway station which opened in 2015 Before the yard opened in 1987 rush hour trains to or from Penn Station had to run without passengers to storage yards on Long Island where the trains were stored during middays The West Side Yard increased the LIRR s rush hour capacity at Penn Station Contents 1 History 1 1 Air rights 2 Tunnel box 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksHistory Edit nbsp Looking east across the West Side Yard toward Penn StationThe 26 17 acre 10 59 ha site is bounded by between West 30th Street West 33rd Street 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue 1 2 Around 1851 the Hudson River Railroad built the yard as a depot for a line running down Eleventh Avenue as trains were not permitted to operate south of West 32nd Street New York Central and later Penn Central expanded the rail yards and used them as a freight terminal up until the 1970s when Penn Central declared bankruptcy and its Manhattan properties were put up for sale 3 The rail yard was acquired by the State of New York The northern portion was used for construction of the Jacob K Javits Convention Center and the southern portion became a train storage yard used by the Long Island Rail Road The yard was built because limited storage capacity at Penn Station forced LIRR trains to make non passenger trips or deadheads to storage yards on Long Island These deadheads took up track space thus limiting capacity on lines heading toward Penn Station 3 4 The yard opened in 1987 immediately increasing train capacity through Penn Station 5 The West Side Yard is named after John D Caemmerer a New York State Senator from East Williston who helped obtain 195 7 million for its construction 3 During construction a tunnel was built under some of the east west tracks allowing Amtrak trains from Penn Station to turn north and travel to Upstate New York via the West Side Line 3 Amtrak trains began using this tunnel on April 7 1991 before this Empire Service trains originated from Grand Central Terminal 6 Air rights Edit nbsp Platforms lower right being constructed over the eastern portion of the rail yard in 2015 There has been a long series of proposals to develop the rail yard air rights including for a major expansion of Midtown Manhattan by William Zeckendorf in the 1950s 7 and for a housing development considered by U S Steel in the 1960s 8 The West Side Yard was designed with space left between the tracks for columns to support development in air rights above the tracks 3 Madison Square Garden considered a possible move to the site in the mid 1980s 9 10 In the 1990s the air rights were considered as a possible location for a New York Yankees stadium 11 The rail yard air rights were proposed by the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics as the location for the media center Olympic plaza and Olympic Stadium to be occupied afterward by the New York Jets 12 13 The eastern portion of the West Side Yard east of 11th Avenue was rezoned for residential and commercial use in January 2005 as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project Following the defeat of the proposal to construct the West Side Stadium the western portion of the rail yard was rezoned to accommodate residential and commercial development in December 2009 14 15 16 Construction started in December 2012 To support massive towers and other elements a platform was built above the rail yard 17 Tunnel box Edit nbsp View of West Side Yard from 33rd StreetThe Gateway Project is a proposal to build a high speed rail corridor to alleviate the bottleneck along the Northeast Corridor between Newark New Jersey and New York City To avoid a potential conflict 18 between the Gateway Project and the Hudson Yards project which broke ground in late 2012 Amtrak officials said in February 2013 that a right of way would be preserved through the Hudson Yards project by construction of a tunnel underneath to be financed by 120 million to 150 million in federal funds 19 20 21 In June 2013 the US Department of Transportation announced that 183 million had been dedicated to the tunnel box as part of Hurricane Sandy recovery funding 22 23 24 The underground concrete casing is 800 ft 240 m long 50 ft 15 m wide and approximately 35 ft 11 m tall 25 Amtrak awarded Tutor Perini a 133 million contract to build a section of box tunnel 26 Construction started in December 2014 and was nearing completion as of July 2017 update though funding disputes stalled the tunnel box s completion 27 The tunnel box was substantially complete by November 2017 28 The following phase would extend the casing between 11th and 12th Avenue as the development of Hudson Yards continues westward 29 Amtrak NJ Transit and the MTA have applied to the Federal Transit Administration for a 65 million matching grant for another 105 ft 32 m long structure to preserve the right of way at 11th Avenue in Manhattan 30 31 under a viaduct that was rehabilitated in 2009 2011 32 33 See also EditList of rail yards List of railroad yards in New York City Manhattan West Riverside South a real estate development on the site of a former Manhattan rail yard that was also called the West Side Yard References Edit West Side Rail Yard Request for Proposals for Development Metropolitan Transportation Authority July 13 2007 Retrieved March 6 2010 2004 Annual Report PDF Metropolitan Transportation Authority p 66 Retrieved March 6 2010 a b c d e Voboril Mary March 26 2005 The Air Above Rail Yards Still Free Newsday New York Archived from the original on August 26 2018 Retrieved February 7 2017 Doherty Matthew November 7 2004 Far West Side Story The New York Times Retrieved March 6 2010 Blumenthal Ralph February 21 1984 Problems Halt Laying of Pipe at L I R R Project The New York Times Retrieved March 5 2010 Travel Advisory Grand Central Trains Rerouted To Penn Station The New York Times April 7 1991 Retrieved March 6 2010 Crowell Paul January 6 1956 Palace Plan Out Bigger One Urged PDF The New York Times Bedingfield Robert E August 4 1964 U S Steel Weighs Midtown Project PDF The New York Times Bagli Charles V December 16 2000 Move Possible for Garden But Where The New York Times Owners of Garden Said to Weigh Building New Arena Further West The New York Times December 28 1985 Retrieved March 6 2010 Barry Dan April 20 1998 Mayor Making Case for Yanks on West Side The New York Times Retrieved March 6 2010 Barry Dan January 15 1999 Giuliani Offers Plan to Put Up Sports Complex The New York Times Retrieved March 6 2010 Bagli Charles V November 27 2011 From Ashes of Olympic Bid a Future Rises for the Far West Side The New York Times Retrieved November 28 2011 Purnick Joyce January 20 2005 What Rises in the West Uncertainty The New York Times Retrieved March 6 2010 Bagli Charles V December 21 2009 Rezoning Will Allow Railyard Project to Advance The New York Times Retrieved March 6 2010 MTA Finalizes Hudson Yards Deal Metropolitan Transportation Authority May 26 2010 Retrieved May 31 2010 Stockton Nick March 24 2014 A Plan to Build Skyscrapers That Barely Touch the Ground Wired Retrieved April 16 2014 Marritz Ilya September 28 2012 Sen Schumer Fast Action Needed for New Amtrak Tunnel Transportation Nation Retrieved October 3 2012 Sichert Bill March 5 2013 Amtrak to construct tunnel box for Hudson River rail project to cross Manhattan development The Star Ledger Retrieved March 9 2013 Samtani HIten February 26 2013 Related Amtrak to construct rail tunnel between Manhattan and NJ The Real Deal Retrieved March 9 2013 Cuozzo Steve February 26 2013 Fed money keeps rail tunnel alive The New York Post Retrieved March 9 2013 Magyar Mark J October 21 2013 NJ Faces Hefty Price Ta for Rail Tunnel Transportation Projects NJ Spotlight Retrieved November 24 2013 Hinds Kate May 30 2013 Second Trans Hudson Tunnel Gets Some Real Money Transportation Nation WNYC Retrieved April 5 2017 Hawkins Andrew May 30 2013 Hudson train tunnel project gets kickstart Crain s Retrieved January 27 2014 Environmental Assessment for Construction of a Concrete Casing in the Hudson Yards New York New York Federal Railroad Administration March 2013 archived from the original on December 2 2013 retrieved September 23 2015 Contract awarded for New York rail tunnel Construction Index September 7 2013 Retrieved November 26 2013 Corasaniti Nick July 20 2017 Part of Hudson Yards Tunnels Is Nearly Done Now It Sits Unused The New York Times Retrieved August 30 2018 Long Island Rail Road Committee Meeting March 2019 PDF mta info Metropolitan Transportation Authority March 25 2019 p 50 Archived from the original PDF on May 24 2019 Retrieved March 25 2019 Hudson Yard Right of Way Preservation Project nec amtrak com nec amtrak com Retrieved July 9 2017 Higgs Larry September 1 2014 Amtrak New tunnels needed after Sandy damage Asbury Park Press Retrieved September 1 2014 Maag Christopher September 21 2014 Signs of life stir for rail tunnel under Hudson The Record Retrieved September 22 2014 11th Avenue Viaduct Over LIRR Yard West 30th to West 33rd Streets PDF NYC Department of Transportation Retrieved September 3 2014 Rehabilitation of 11th Avenue Viaduct Over LIRR Amtrak PDF Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers Archived from the original PDF on May 13 2008 Retrieved September 3 2014 External links Edit nbsp Media related to West Side Yard at Wikimedia Commons 40 45 16 N 74 00 11 W 40 75444 N 74 00306 W 40 75444 74 00306 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title West Side Yard amp oldid 1175656141, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.