NEW YORK CITY. 



425 



sion also adopted resolutions ordering plans for 

 a second tunnel, and for extensions and terminals 

 that will reach the main centers in Manhattan 

 and Brooklyn and establish the best possible 

 interborough communication. 



The New York Central Railroad announced 



?lans for the improvement of the tunnel under 

 'ark Avenue, which contemplate a change in 

 the location of Park Avenue, below 56th Street, 

 or south of the present southern end of the tun- 

 nel, and it is the intention of the railroad to ask 

 the city to exchange what is now Park Avenue 

 for a similar amount of land which the com- 

 pany has purchased west of the present avenue. 

 This strip of land is to be made into a new 

 Park Avenue, and the present street surface is to 

 be used to extend the tracks of the road in an 

 approach to the loop that is to be built under- 

 neath the Grand Central Station. Part of the 

 street so obtained is to be an open cut on a 

 level with the rest of the tracks below the tunnel 

 end. But as the side tracks to be used for the 

 suburban electric system will have to reach a 

 level of 40 feet below the street surface, the down 

 grade leading into the subterranean loop will 

 have to begin near 56th Street, in order to pro- 

 vide a safe grade. It is largely for this that the 

 New York Central acquired the 75-foot strip 

 of land west of Park Avenue, and between 49th 

 and 56th Streets. These improvements contem- 

 plate the use of electricity as the motive power, 

 and it is estimated that three years will be re- 

 quired to complete the undertaking. 



In April the New York and Jersey City Ter- 

 minal Underground Railroad Company was in- 

 corporated, with a capital of $100,000, to operate 

 an underground tunnel railroad from a point on 

 the bank of Hudson river at the boundary-line 

 between New York and New Jersey to the in- 

 tersection of Park Avenue and 57th Street, New 

 York city. The length of the road is to be 6 

 miles. The road is to be constructed under Hud- 

 son river, and under and between the following 

 streets of New York city: From the intersection 

 of West Street and Battery Place, to Greenwich 

 Street, to Trinity Place, to Church Street, to 

 Dey Street, to Broadway and Vesey Street, to 

 Park Row, to Center Street, to New Elm Street, 

 to Great Jones Street, to Lafayette Place, to 

 Astor Place, to Eighth Street, to Ninth Street, to 

 Fourth Avenue, to 42d Street, to Grand Central 

 Station, to Park Avenue, to 57th Street, con- 

 necting there with the Harlem Railroad. It was 

 specified that a branch shall be constructed form- 

 ing a connection with the main line at 34th 

 Street and Fourth Avenue and running under 34th 

 Street to the East river. Subsequently it was 

 announced that this company had bought the 

 rights and property of the Hudson River Tunnel 

 Railway Company, which began the construction 

 of a tunnel under the river, known as the Morton 

 Street Tunnel, and of which more than 4,000 feet 

 have been excavated. The new corporation 

 sought permission from the Rapid-Transit Com- 

 mission to tunnel from the New York end of 

 the old tunnel up West Street, to Morton, thence 

 to Greenwich, and up to a terminal in the block 

 bounded by West 10th, Christopher, Greenwich, 

 and Hudson Streets. 



In September the Hudson and Manhattan 

 Railroad Company, with an authorized capital 

 of $100,000, was chartered. This corporation 

 contemplates a railroad to begin at or near Pa- 

 vonia Ferry in Jersey City, running thence south- 

 erly to the intersection of Exchange Place and 

 Hudson Street, and thence under the bed of 

 Hudson river to a convenient point on the 



boundary-line between New Jersey and New 

 York. The tunnel will run from the intersection 

 of Exchange Place and Hudson Street, southerly 

 and under Hudson Street, to the southerly ter- 

 minus of the railroad, and thence southerly by 

 the most direct and feasible route to the station 

 of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. 



The most important tunnel project brought to 

 public attention during the year was begun with 

 the incorporation, on April 21, of the Pennsyl- 

 vania, New York and Long Island Railroad Com- 

 pany, with a capital of $20,000,000, to construct 

 and operate an underground railroad in New 

 York and Queens Counties, to be operated by 

 electricity or other suitable power. This under- 

 taking has for its purpose the carrying of the 

 line of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company 

 a.cross Manhattan Island and establishing a sta- 

 tion on the island, at an estimated cost of $40,- 

 000,000, of which about $25,000,000 will be paid 

 for labor. The new line will begin at Harrison, 

 opposite Newark, and run along the south side 

 of the Pennsylvania main line to a point at 

 which it has such an elevation that it can cross 

 to the north side overhead. Then it trends 

 northward across the meadows to the west side 

 of the ridge just back of Hoboken. On the 

 meadows the line crosses 7 railroads, besides the 

 main line of the Pennsylvania, and an important 

 highway on which is a double-track trolley road, 

 and it also crosses Hackensack river. AH the 

 crossings are over grade. That necessitates a 

 continuous embankment, or viaduct, from Harri- 

 son to the tunnel portal at the west side of the 

 ridge, about 6 miles. At the Bergen ridge the 

 line enters a rock tunnel, and it emerges in 

 Long Island City, the length of tunnel being 

 a little less than 6 miles. The total improvement 

 from Harrison to the junction with the Long Is- 

 land Railroad is 12J miles. Not a foot is on the 

 natural surface; all is in tunnel or cutting, or on 

 embankment or viaduct. Across the North river 

 will be 2 tunnels, and across the East river 4, 

 and the tunnels are to meet at a central station 

 to be established on Manhattan Island, between 

 Seventh and Ninth Avenues and 31st and 33d 

 Streets. On Manhattan Island the rails will 

 never be nearer the surface than 40 feet, and 

 everywhere they will be below mean tide-level. 

 At the highest point of the tunnel the rails will 

 be about 10 feet below mean low water. The 

 station platform will also be below tide-level. 

 Under the Bergen ridge the grade of the tunnel 

 will be 225 feet below the highest point of the 

 hill. Under the North river it will be 35 feet 

 below the natural bottom of the river and 80 feet 

 below mean low water. Under the East river 

 the depths are about the same. The represent- 

 atives of the Pennsylvania Company came to a 

 speedy agreement with the Rapid-Transit Com- 

 missioners, but that contract was rejected by the 

 Board of Aldermen, on the ground that the city's 

 rights were not properly safeguarded. Subse- 

 quently a conference was held by Mayor Low and 

 others, at which the proposed franchise was dis- 

 cussed at length. The Pennsylvania Railroad 

 Company agreed to accept some of the modifica- 

 tions that were suggested, and it was proposed 

 that the Mayor send a message to the Board of 

 Aldermen and a similar message to the Rapid- 

 Transit Commission, asking each body to appoint 

 a conference committee for the purpose of devel- 

 oping a possible franchise that would be satis- 

 factory. Conferences and public hearings fol- 

 lowed, and after several months' discussion the 

 franchise, amended and revised, became accept- 

 able to the representatives of the railroad, the 



