In an op-ed for the New York Daily News, Mysore Nagaraja, Howard Sackel and Bob Previdi make an interesting argument: linking Manhattan’s two rail stations would work. They say that it would reduce travel time and cut traffic congestion. They also say it is more than doable, but is thwarted by current leadership:
Physically, a link between Grand Central and Penn Station can be done — by either repositioning tracks 1 through 4 or by constructing a deep tunnel station below Penn Station thus avoiding tearing down the block south of Penn Station, known as Block 780. Then if we focus on building a connection (instead of building Penn South) to the LIRR’s East Side Access, NJT riders could reach destinations in Queens and Long Island, and LIRR and Metro-North trains can reach destinations in New Jersey.
The biggest problem here is the parochial thinking of Amtrak and the commuter rail agencies and lack of political leadership that puts customers’ needs over agencies. Someone, the mayor, the governors of New York and New Jersey or perhaps Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg or even President Biden, “Amtrak Joe,” needs to step up and champion this kind of thinking.
This sounds all well and good, and indeed linking these two hubs would mirror what is done in some European countries (as the authors point out). But at this stage in the Penn Station renovation endgame, the ship for anything involving Grand Central has sailed. After all, the LIRR was just added there in a massive expenditure, and while the rollout hasn’t been perfect, the concept has made commutes more accessible into Midtown. Take me for example. I have to take a 4 AM train to work every Saturday, and that train only exists on the Mineola line to Penn. The trek to my office is about 30 minutes once I get into the city. But when I go home, I just take an 11:40 train from Grand Central; the walk from my office to there is just 8 minutes. I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be more improvement, I’m just saying that this is not a moment to reconsider Grand Central, given that there is a sense of progress and the new access is not even a year old.
And when it comes to fixing Penn, we’re locked in an idea war that really involves the station’s relationship to Madison Square Garden. The issue at hand is transportation (and the benefits are clear), but the issue at heart is a political decision over what the city looks like that involves the specific transport agencies that have a stake in the station: the MTA, NJ Transit, and Amtrak. Once that issue is resolved, perhaps in about a decade or two, New York can look to better integrate the two stations. But for now, Penn needs to be sorted out on its own.
