The Destruction Of Penn Station

Mashable has published a photo essay which looks back at the original Penn Station.

In 1910, when New York City transportation terminal Pennsylvania Station opened, it was widely praised for its majestic architecture. Designed in the Beaux-Arts style, it featured pink granite construction and a stately colonnade on the exterior.The main waiting room, inspired by the Roman Baths of Caracalla, was the largest indoor space in the city — a block and a half long with vaulted glass windows soaring 150 feet over a sun-drenched chamber. Beyond that, trains emerged from bedrock to deposit passengers on a concourse lit by an arching glass and steel greenhouse roof. This may sound unfamiliar for present-day residents of New York City, who know Penn Station as a miserable subterranean labyrinth. Though the original Penn Station served 100 million passengers a year at its peak in 1945, by the late 1950s the advent of affordable air travel and the Interstate Highway System had cut into train use. The Pennsylvania Railroad could not even afford to keep the station clean.

The station was demolished in the early 1960s for the construction of the fourth iteration of Madison Square Garden, which was originally located across town, hello, at Madison Square. Hit the link and lament.

Conductor Sues Amtrak Over Philly Crash

Via NBC News:

One of the conductors aboard the Amtrak train that derailed last week in Philadelphia has sued the rail carrier. Emilio Fonseca, of Kearny, New Jersey, filed the lawsuit Monday in Newark. It seeks unspecified damages. The complaint accuses Amtrak of "negligence and carelessness'' in the May 12 derailment that killed eight people and injured more than 200. Fonseca's attorney, Bruce Nagel, says he suffered broken bones and head trauma and is still hospitalized in Philadelphia. Four passengers have also sued Amtrak, which has said it doesn't comment on pending litigation.

In 1997 Congress passed a law which caps the maximum lawsuit payout over a single rail incident at $200M. It's expected that Philadelphia crash settlements will hit that liability ceiling very quickly.

RELATED: The top Google result for "Amtrak crash."

Amtrak Resumes NYC-Philly Service

Via the New York Times:

Amtrak trains began rolling on the busy Northeast Corridor early Monday, the first time in almost a week following a deadly crash in Philadelphia, and officials vowed to have safer trains and tracks while investigators worked to determine the cause of the derailment. Amtrak resumed service along the corridor with a 5:30 a.m. southbound train leaving New York City. The first northbound train, scheduled to leave Philadelphia at 5:53 a.m., was delayed and pulled out of 30th Street Station at 6:07 a.m. About three dozen passengers boarded the New York City-bound train in Philadelphia, and Mayor Michael Nutter was on hand to see the passengers and train off. All Acela Express, Northeast Regional and other services were to also resume.

Airlines Accused Of Price Gouging As Amtrak Continues Service Suspension

Via the New York Times:

A check of Delta Air Lines fares at La Guardia Airport at 10 a.m. on Thursday found that a ticket on the 12:30 p.m. shuttle to Washington could be found — for $2,309. But a ticket on the noon shuttle cost $554. Even under ordinary circumstances, airfares can seem something of a mystery, but veteran travelers said that Thursday’s price swings were more extreme than anything they could recall. George Hobica, the founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, said that while buying a ticket on the same day of travel is always the most expensive option, the fare increases on Thursday were extreme. By raising fares as demand grew, he said, the airlines were “making hay while the sun is not shining.” Fares for Friday shuttles, typically around $250 for a one-way ticket from New York to Washington, cost nearly twice that much if purchased Thursday.

Via The Hill:

A Democratic senator is suggesting that airlines might be gouging passengers with high prices for flights in the Northeast after a deadly Amtrak crash near Philadelphia this week. Reports of high fares “raise questions about whether airlines are increasing prices to unjustifiable levels after this week’s devastating train derailment in Philadelphia,” Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) said Friday. “The airlines should know that they’re under the microscope as those in the Northeast struggle to cope with the fallout of the crash," he added. "I will follow up with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to ensure that airlines are not gouging travelers whose trains were cancelled.”

Amtrak says that limited service might resume by Tuesday. On Wednesday a House committee approved a Republican measure that would slash 2016 Amtrak funding by nearly $100M. Average weekday ridership on Amtrak's northeast corridor is about 120,000.

Amtrak Crash Engineer Is Openly Gay

Teabagistan is ablaze tonight after the engineer of the Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia was identified as Brandon Bostian, an openly gay man who campaigned against Prop 8 while living in San Francisco and for gay marriage after moving to New York. Via Heavy:

Brandon Bostian, 32, has been an engineer for Amtrak since December 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously worked for four years with the company as a conductor. Bostian, originally from Memphis, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2006 with a degree in business management and administration. He also worked as a cashier at Target while in college and previously lived in San Francisco. Bostian is gay and was quoted in a 2012 story by The Midtown Gazette about the fight for gay marriage in New York. He said he moved to New York from San Francisco and had been active in the Proposition 8 fight. “It’s kind of insulting to have to beg people for my right to marry,” he told the newspaper. “I feel like we shouldn’t even have to have this fight.” GotNews, which first reported his name, called him a “gay activist,” and many Twitter users have reacted negatively to his sexuality, claiming he may have been a “diversity” hire by the government-funded Amtrak.

GotNews is a far-right site run by the despicable Chuck C. Johnson, who is loathed even by some of his fellow wingnuts for his habit of trolling the victims of rape.

REPORT: Amtrak Train Was Traveling Twice Speed Limit At Time Of Crash

Via the Wall Street Journal:

An Amtrak train involved in a fatal crash here appears to have been traveling at more than 100 miles an hour as it entered a sharp curve where it derailed Tuesday night, killing at least six people, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation. The speed limit in that section of track drops to 50 miles per hour, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. Investigators are focusing on the possibility that excessive speed was a factor in the derailment, one of these people said. The locomotive and all seven passenger cars of the train went off the tracks at a tight curve at Frankford Junction, north of Philadelphia city center. Multiple cars overturned, severely injuring some passengers and pinning others. Six people were killed and more than 200 were injured, including eight who were in critical condition.

Update On Amtrak Derailment

It's ten hours later and transit officials have not yet announced a cause for last night's Amtrak disaster in Philadelphia, which has claimed six lives at this writing. The crash occurred where the track curves through the Port Richmond neighborhood and it's the site of a 1943 train crash that killed 79 passengers. That crash remains one of the deadliest in US history. Amtrak issued a statement early this morning:

We are deeply saddened by the loss of life from Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 that derailed north of Philadelphia Tuesday evening. We ask the news media to be respectful of our customers, our employees, and their families. There were approximately 238 passengers and 5 crew members on board. Individuals with questions about their friends and family on this train should call the Amtrak Incident Hotline 800-523-9101. Amtrak has also established a Family Assistance Center to work closely with family and friends of individuals on the train. Local emergency responders are on the scene and an investigation is ongoing. On Wednesday, May 13, modified Amtrak service will be provided between Washington and Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and New York and Boston. There will be no Amtrak service between New York and Philadelphia, but New Jersey Transit will honor Amtrak tickets between New York City and Trenton.

Rail service may not resume between NYC and Philadelphia for several days.

RELATED: Shortly after the crash Donald Trump took to Twitter to declare that only he can fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure. Trump was immediately castigated as a crass opportunist by all sides, but especially on right wing sites where talk of infrastructure spending is akin to communism.

Amtrak Train Derails In Philadelphia

A New York City-bound ten-car Amtrak train out of Washington DC derailed tonight in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia. On board was former US Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), who is assisting the injured. No fatalities are being reported at this writing. The top photo above was taken by Murphy, who estimates that the train was "traveling 60-70 mph" at the time of the crash. This is just the latest in a rash of commuter rail disasters in the northeast in recent months. I'll update this post when more is known. Philadelphia's NBC affiliate is reporting live from the scene.

UPDATE: The number of fatalities now stands at six.

JAPAN: Mag-Lev Train Sets New Record

The BBC reports:

A Japanese magnetic levitation train has broken its own world speed record, hitting 603km/h (374mph) in a test run near Mount Fuji. The train beat the 590km/h speed it had set last week in another test. Mag-lev trains use electrically charged magnets to lift and move carriages above the rail tracks. Central Japan Railway (JR Central), which owns the trains, wants to introduce the service between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya by 2027. The 280km journey would take only about 40 minutes, less than half the current time. Construction costs are estimated at nearly $100bn (£67bn) just for the stretch to Nagoya, with more than 80% of the route expected to go through costly tunnels, AFP news agency reports. By 2045, mag-lev trains are expected to link Tokyo and Osaka in just one hour, slashing the journey time in half. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting the US on Sunday where he is expected to pitch for a role in building a new high-speed rail line between New York and Washington.

Another Passenger Train Derailment

Via Raleigh's CBS affiliate:

An Amtrak train derailed Monday in Halifax County at the intersection of U.S. Highway 301 and N.C. Highway 903. The Daily Herald in Roanoke Rapids reported that the train collided with a transfer truck, and the train's engine was on its side. The other cars remained upright. Charlotte Story, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was riding in the seventh car on the train, which was heading from Charlotte to New York. She said many people had what appeared to be minor injuries.

Today's incident is the latest in a recent spate of passenger and freight train derailments, some of which have resulted in explosions, deaths and many injuries.

CALIFORNIA: Dozens Injured In Commuter Train Collision With Truck

Via the Los Angeles Times:

A Metrolink train derailed in Oxnard early today after colliding with a tractor trailer on the tracks. The collision occurred about 5:55 a.m. at the Rice Road crossing, Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told the Los Angeles Times. The collision derailed three of the passenger train’s cars and injured at least 30 people, he said. He could not confirm initial reports of casualties. Television images from the scene show train cars lying on their side and the burned-out remains of the truck.

Just two weeks ago seven were killed north of Manhattan when a commuter train collided with an SUV.

UPDATE: CNN reports that the driver of the truck fled the scene on foot and has been apprehended.

Deadly Crash Closes Metro-North Line

Service on Metro-North's Harlem line is suspended this morning following a deadly Westchester County crash that killed seven late yesterday afternoon.

The train out of Grand Central Terminal was going northbound on the Harlem line when it struck a Jeep Cherokee at the Commerce Street crossing in Valhalla at about 6:30 p.m., officials said. The Jeep was stopped on the tracks when the railroad crossing gates came down on top of it, according to MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. The driver got out to look at the back of the car, then got back in and drove forward when the train struck the Jeep, pushing it about 10 train-car lengths up the track. The Jeep driver and six passengers on the train were killed in the crash, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news conference Tuesday night. The crash is the deadliest in the history of the Metro-North Railroad. Six hundred and fifty people were on board train No. 659, which departed Grand Central at 5:45 p.m. The train made one stop at 125th Street in Harlem before it proceeded express toward Chappaqua, the MTA said.

Some passengers were forced to smash train doors and windows to escape the flames. Federal investigators are on the scene. Metro-North's last fatal incident took place just over a year ago when four were killed after the engineer fell asleep at the controls.

All NYC Mass Transit To Close At 11PM

This includes subways, buses, ferries, PATH, Metro-North, Long Island Railroad, and (perhaps obviously) AirTrain. New Jersey Transit will suspend all rail service until Thursday at 8PM tonight. No re-start time for the MTA has yet been announced. Wherever you are at 11PM, you'll likely be there for 36-48 hours.

UPDATE: Gov. Cuomo has also declared a ban on all non-emergency vehicular traffic beginning at 11PM, warning that those caught on the roads will be ticketed and fined $300.

Cuomo Proposes Rail Link To LGA

During his State Of The State address, yesterday New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed connecting LaGuardia Airport to New York City's rail system via a new AirTrain line. Adding rail service to LGA is an idea that has been pitched and abandoned several times in recent decades.

Cuomo’s plan involves a 1.5 mile long LGA AirTrain running over the Grand Central Parkway, connecting with MTA’s 7 subway line, as well as the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington branch at the Mets-Willets Point station. A typical ride from Grand Central Terminal to Willets Point is about 30 minutes via the subway, while the Long Island Rail Road currently only stops at the station during sporting events at Citi Field or Arthur Ashe Stadium. The AirTrain plan was just a small portion of a larger speech given by Governor Cuomo on Tuesday morning, with only a few details set in stone as of yet. The joint Port Authority and MTA project is initially estimated to cost $450 million, and construction could be completed within five years after all approvals are granted, according to a short statement released by the Port Authority.

Cuomo did not elaborate on a source of funding for the project. Next week the MTA is expected to authorize a subway and bus fare increase, raising the single-ride price to $2.75 and the price of a monthly pass to $116.50. Cash tolls on the Verrazano Bridge will rise to $16.00. (The Port Authority operates the bridges and tunnels to Jersey.)

RELATED: AirTrain service to JFK launched in December 2003 after five years of construction that ended up costing nearly $2B. That line, however, is much longer than the one proposed for LGA.

Photo Of The Day

Gizmodo reports:

NYC's East Side Access Project continues apace, and these recent images, taken last month by MTA photographer Rehema Trimiew, show a whole new view of the mind-boggling underground caverns now being constructed beneath Manhattan. From raw walls of exposed geology to this, the space is finally taking on the look and feel of architecture. The titanic yellow facility—its walls secured behind waterproofing geotextiles that will, of course, eventually be covered over altogether, meaning that this surreal yellow scene is just a temporary state—is on the Grand Central side of the project, and will be part of a huge new underground terminal increasing access for the Long Island Railroad.

The tunnel and terminal which will connect Long Island Railroad to Grand Central is one of the two largest public works projects underway in the United States. The other, of course, is the Second Avenue subway on the Upper East Side. The Second Avenue line, which will be called the T train, will run at an average depth of 80 feet below street level. The East Side Access terminal will be a staggering 180 feet below Park Avenue. That'll be a lot of escalators. 47 escalators, in fact.

NEW YORK CITY: At Least Four Dead In Metro-North Train Derailment In Bronx

A Grand Central-bound Metro-North train filled with returning holiday travelers derailed this morning in the Bronx.  Emergency responders report at least four deaths and dozens of injuries.

The train appeared to be going “a lot faster” than usual as it approached the tricky curve coming into Spuyten Duyvil station, passenger Frank Tatulli told WABC-TV. “It [the train] left them [tracks] because it went too fast,” said Tatulli, who rides this same train every Sunday morning. Neighborhood resident Brendan Conley said he was jarred awake by a loud boom. “I thought I heard what I thought was a building collapsing,” Conley, 22, told The Post. “I came to the window and saw people walking across the tracks. Smoke was coming out of the second car that rolled over. I yelled for my mom to call the fire department. I stood there and saw 40 or 50 people come climbing out of the train on their own.” Tracks involved in Sunday’s crash serve Metro-North’s Hudson line, including station stops in bedroom communities like Peekskill, Croton-Harmon, Ossining, Dobbs Ferry and Yonkers.

Rail Service Suspended Indefinitely After Metro-North Commuter Train Crash

Commuters may face weeks of difficulty in getting to New York City after Friday's train collision, which left dozens injured.

Metro-North's New Haven Line service east of Fairfield -- and Amtrak's service between New York and Boston -- was suspended in the wake of the crash, and authorities said it could take two weeks or more before service resumes. The investigation is expected to run from seven to 10 days, the NTSB's Earl Weener said, and only after the investigation is complete can Metro-North crews begin the labor-intensive process of repairing the rails and the overhead catenary wires that provide power to the trains.

Metro-North's New Haven line alone has a monthly ridership of over three million. Grand Central may be a ghost town this week.

CONNECTICUT: Dozens Injured, Five Critically, In Commuter Train Collision

Last night two Metro-North commuter trains collided near Fairfield, Connecticut after a southbound train derailed at 60mph.  Dozens were injured, five critically.

The derailed train apparently clipped the front of the oncoming train then scraped along its side, officials said. About 700 people were thrown about the two trains when they collided, said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. “It wasn’t a straight head-on collision, but the fronts of the two trains struck each other,” Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan said.  Malloy said 60 passengers were rushed to St. Vincent’s and Bridgeport hospitals. Five were in critical condition, and one was in very critical condition, Malloy said. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead an investigation with the FBI, the Connecticut Office of Emergency Management and the Federal Railroad Administration to determine the cause of the derailment, but Malloy doesn’t believe the rails were sabotaged.

Metro-North is the nation's busiest commuter rail service.

UPDATE: Commenters on Breitbart are blaming the president. And unions. And "Connecticut libtards."

Afternoon View: 30th Street Station

Photo Of The Day

I've blogged quite a bit about the construction of the Second Avenue Subway here on the Upper East Side, but haven't said much about the project to connect Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Terminal.

Buried 16 stories beneath Grand Central Terminal a new commuter rail is being blasted and tunneled out of solid bedrock as part of an audacious $15 billion development that will span 14 miles throughout the city. The grand concourse, seen at a massive eight stories high surrounded by dripping stone walls and lapping puddles, will provide more floor space than New Orleans' Superdome stadium when finished. It is just one of three monumental projects underway beneath New York City's streets to expand what's already the nation's biggest mass transit system transporting 5 million riders a day.

But even with blasting and machinery grinding through the rock day and night, most New Yorkers are blithely unaware of the construction or the eerie underworld that includes a 160-foot cavern, miles of tunnels and watery, gravel-filled pits. Down below them, engineer Michael Horodniceanu says it's an astonishing sight that gets him every time. 'I look at it and I'm in wonder, I'm in awe,' said Horodniceanu, president of capital construction for the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 'I feel like when I went to Rome and entered St. Peter's Basilica for the first time. ... I looked at it and said, "Wow, how did they do that?"' 

Hit the link for many more very cool photos. So far the digging under Grand Central has removed enough material to cover all of Central Park under a foot of rock.