Urban rail roundup - summary of new construction and remodeling projects in 1996 - Urban Rail Planner's Guide

Railway Age, Feb, 1996

Despite shrinking capital budgets for transit at the federal level, U.S. rail transit systems continued to maintain a strong pace of rehabilitation, modernization, and expansion as 1996 began, with at least a half dozen new rail lines or extensions scheduled to begin operation during the year. Here's a city-by-city recap of major North American rail transit work in progress or planned.

Boston

At North Station, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) continues construction of a new subway and station for the light rail Green Line system that will replace an existing elevated structure and provide a more direct connection with MBTA Orange Line metro and regional rail services. In addition to the station and subway, a new ramp must be built to reach the existing line at Science Park. A segment of the new subway is already complete under a parking garage and the new Shawmut Center arena. The entire project should be complete by 2002.

Early last year, MBTA awarded a $215 million contract to Breda Costruzione Ferroviarie for 100 new Type 8 low-floor, a.c. propulsion, articulated light rail vehicles for the Green Line, with deliveries expected to begin late in 1998. Together with planned platform modifications, the low-floor vehicles will enable MBTA to provide an accessible service on the Green Line.

The new cars will be operated in multiple with the earlier Type 7 high-floor vehicles to provide an accessible vehicle in every train. Late in the year, MBTA also placed an order with Kinki Sharyo/Itochi for an additional 20 Type 7 cars, which can be delivered within two years, to permit accelerated retirement of the authority's Boeing SLRV fleet.

Buffalo

While planned major extensions of the Niagara Frontier Transit Metro System's 6.2-mile light rail metro have not gone ahead, the city may be close to a decision to develop a short Main Street extension south from Auditorium station to serve a new downtown arena opening later this year, as well as provide better transit access for potential development of the waterfront area and the old Lackawanna station. The extension will require only about 2,000 feet of new track, with the balance operating in track already in place for access to NFT's maintenance facility and yard.

New York Metropolitan Area

Under a $9.6 billion 1993-97 capital program, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has committed a total of $6.8 billion to MTA New York City Transit projects, with over half that amount going to restoration of the transit infrastructure, facilities, and stations to a state of good repair. Late last year the MTA proposed a $5.5 billion 1997-1999 capital program for NYC Transit that would continue this effort.

Station rehabilitation represents one of the most visible elements of this work, and by the end of its 1995-96 program NYC Transit expects to have completed work at 147 of its 469 subway stations. Conversion of the subway system to MTA's new MetroCard automated fare collection (AFC) system continues. By late last year, AFC installation was complete at 105 subway stations, with all stations to be equipped by the end of 1997.

By the end of the decade, almost 3,000 NYC Transit subway cars will be over 30 years old and ready for replacement. Anticipating this major replacement program, the agency has been evaluating two "New Technology Test Trains," supplied by Bombardier and Kawasaki, since 1993. The trains incorporate a wide range of advanced features, and NYC Transit's experience with them is expected to form the basis for specifications for its next major metro vehicle procurement. The MTA's proposed 1997-1999 capital program includes $1.89 billion for the acquisition of 840 of these new generation cars.

The largest improvement project in the current plan is a $645 million 63rd Street/Queens Boulevard Line Connection that will link Queens Boulevard lines to the 63rd Street tunnel under the East River, increasing subway capacity between Queens and Manhattan by one-third. Work began in 1994, and the connection should open by 2001.

Significant change to the New York subway system could come from current long range transportation planning studies for the region being undertaken by MTA agencies, NJ Transit, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (RA, Nov. 1995, Regional/Commuter Rail Planner's Guide). NYC Transit is conducting two of these. An East River Crossing Study is considering capacity and operational problems on the nine overcrowded bridge and tunnel crossings of the river, while a Manhattan East Side Alternatives Study is considering a variety of options for the East Side, which is currently underserved by the subway system. An Access to the Region's Core study being conducted by the Port Authority, too, may have significant long range implications for the subway system.

The 42nd Street Development Corp. and the New York City Department of Transportation have jointly been developing a project for a 2.2-mile cross-town light rail line in 42nd Street in Manhattan that will operate from the United Nations headquarters on the East Side to the city's West Side convention center. Four teams have been selected to compete for a "super turnkey" contract, under which a team will finance, design, and construct the line, and would operate and maintain it for a 25-year period. The project has successfully completed the city's arduous environmental and land use review process in 1994, but has remained stalled. A final study of financial feasibility and utilities relocation problems initiated last year should be complete this spring, with a decision on the future of the project to follow.