Proposal
before the Glenn A. Walsh
Planning
Committee of
Transit
Council: Telephone: 412-561-7876
Continued
Use of Electronic Mail: < LRTrailyard@planetarium.cc >
Penn Station LRT Station Internet
Web Site: < https://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit
>
And Use of LRT Rail Yard 2005 June
22
Current
plans for the “North Shore Connector” transit rail line extension project calls
for the disconnection of the current Penn Station Rail line, from the
yet-to-be-built Convention
Center
Subway Line. When first built, Port Authority [PAT] ran shuttle service between
Penn Station and
the
early 1990s, when this service was discontinued due to one of the general
service cutbacks.
Since
that time, PAT has operated two round-trips, during the weekday afternoon
rush-hours, to and from the Light Rail Station at Penn Station. These are both
42S South Hills
Village
trips which serve Penn Station,
The
only additional light rail service to Penn Station occurred, several years ago,
when the All-Star Baseball Game was played in
time,
more than 15 years, no light rail vehicle has ever actually been placed in
storage in a seven-track [five tracks and loop] rail car storage yard that exists
just east of the LRT Station
at
Penn Station. I propose the following:
1)
Construction of the Convention Center Subway Line occurs in such a way
as to ensure a continued rail connection to the Penn Station Line. Such
construction could include
an easy connection between the
Convention Center and the Penn Station Lines [for ease of transferring vehicles
from the Convention Center to the rail car storage yard], in
addition to the continued direct rail
connection to
2) Once the Convention Center Subway
Line is completed, and revenue service has begun, then, finally, LRVs could begin to be moved into and out of the rail car
storage yard, for
the mid-day storage of light rail
vehicles only needed for rush-hours—as originally envisioned by the designers
of the Stage I Light Rail Transit System.
3) Since there will be regular scheduled
subway service to the Convention Center [actually, the new Greyhound Station,
across the street from Penn Station], there no longer has
to be scheduled service to the original LRT Station at Penn Station.
However, the movement of rail cars into and out of the rail yard will mean that,
for all intents and purposes,
there will be somewhat frequent rail
service to the original LRT Station at Penn Station during the rush-hours [and,
perhaps, a little service at other times of the day]. This will
provide riders of the East Busway,
riders and employees of Amtrak, employees working at the PAT Police Station, employees
of Norfolk-Southern, and tenants of the
Pennsylvanian apartments a more
convenient rail service during the rush-hours.
PAT
will claim that, physically, the connection between the Convention Center
Subway Line and the Penn Station Rail Line cannot be maintained. I consider
this just an excuse to
get
rid of a 15-year-od embarrassment, the Penn Station Rail Yard, which they
refuse to use. If a new tunnel can be built between the Convention Center and
Steel Plaza, then some
way
can be found to retain the connection between the Convention Center and Penn
Station Lines.
PAT
will also claim that they cannot use the rail yard, due to switching problems
on the
they
built the rail yard anyway! This means that they felt that the switching
problems could be worked-out satisfactorily, to allow the Port Authority to
save money on electricity and
the
wear-and-tear on vehicles with the mid-day storage of LRVs only needed during
the rush hours.
gaw