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Abandoned Central Park tunnel?


Deucey

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Well, this specific tunnel is only currently used by the (Q), but the (F) also uses the 63rd Street connector farther along. This article is from July - now with the SAS, that's what the Q uses to get from 57th-7th to 63rd-Lex.

 

As to the (R), I don't see why it'd be necessary - the two stops on 59th and Queens Plaza are higher traffic than Lex/63rd, Roosevelt, and 21st-Queensbridge. The current (R) stops need the extra line more. In fact, it might even unnecessarily crowd the 63rd Street tunnel, what with (R) trains having to utilize a switch between two already high-traffic tracks right before the 63rd Street station.

 

Hope this helps!

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Someone should tell Gothamist about the lower level of the 63rd Street tubes... That article should be a doozy  :lol:

well you don't want New Yorkers to know that East Side cost 10 billion dollars without even building a river tunnel. 

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How moronic! It was used in regular service as recently as 1998 and it's somehow previously unheard of? How could a 'professional' blogger be so dense? 1998 certainly wasn't ancient history; all of us here remember what was happening with our lives and the world in general back then.

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How moronic! It was used in regular service as recently as 1998 and it's somehow previously unheard of? How could a 'professional' blogger be so dense? 1998 certainly wasn't ancient history; all of us here remember what was happening with our lives and the world in general back then.

Actually it was 1995

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Don't you guys think he was talking about the stub track at 57th Street-7th Avenue? Maybe he was referring to the never built Central Park West connection.

That’s self-contradiction right there. It can’t be abandoned if it was never built.

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A portion of the Central Park West connection was built, but not entirely to Central Park West.

Wasn’t that entirely absorbed by the 63 Street connection? Is there anything left that isn’t a part of the 63 Street connector?

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Wasn’t that entirely absorbed by the 63 Street connection? Is there anything left that isn’t a part of the 63 Street connector?

 

Only the express tracks were absorbed by the 63rd Street connection. The local trackways still exist and IIRC turn onto 59th Street and abruptly stop halfway between 7th and 8th Avenues.

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One of the pre-IND plans concerning the Central Park West line was a connection to the Broadway line. The BMT added the bellmouth provision when building the Broadway line as a way to get a foothold in the bidding process for the Central Park West line and have a better standing over the IRT, the only competition at that time. Regarding that proposal, from 57 Street, the local tracks would've diverged northwest forming two of the four tracks planned for the Central Park West line. The other two tracks would've ran south down 8th Avenue to just beyond the old Pennsylvania Station at 30th Street with provisions for continuation. However, as Mayor Hylan wanted a subway system completely separate from the IRT and BMT, this proposal was scrapped, despite being approved by the Board of Estimate in 1923.

 

Another proposal using these stub tracks would emerge in the 1939 Second System plans, which called for an extension of the Broadway line through Central Park itself and eventually up Morningside Ave to 145th Street.

 

While neither proposal ever saw the light of day, the bellmouth provisions at 57 Street would eventually be used as part of the 63rd Street line, which opened in 1989. As for documentation, most of the info comes from The Routes Not Taken book on transit proposals that never occurred for whatever reason be it political opposition or lack of funds. It's an interesting book on what could've been.

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Don't you guys think he was talking about the stub track at 57th Street-7th Avenue? Maybe he was referring to the never built Central Park West connection.

 

 

No, the article literally says "runs between the 57th Street and 7th Avenue, and Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street in Manhattan" and mentions it will be (and of course now is being) used on the (Q)...

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The first time it was used was in 1995 when the (Q) Train was sent via Broadway/Montague to 21st Street-Queenbridge due to the Manhattan Bridge North Side being closed on Midday/Weekends due to major trackwork and the South Side was still closed. This was from April to November of 1995. I'm well aware of the 1998 Shuttle.

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Only the express tracks were absorbed by the 63rd Street connection. The local trackways still exist and IIRC turn onto 59th Street and abruptly stop halfway between 7th and 8th Avenues.

That is something that ought to be finished.  It would allow for more flexibility in the system, including when needed being able to have 6th and/or 8th Avenue trains run via Broadway for example.

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The first time it was used was in 1995 when the (Q) Train was sent via Broadway/Montague to 21st Street-Queenbridge due to the Manhattan Bridge North Side being closed on Midday/Weekends due to major trackwork and the South Side was still closed. This was from April to November of 1995. I'm well aware of the 1998 Shuttle.

 

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Only the express tracks were absorbed by the 63rd Street connection. The local trackways still exist and IIRC turn onto 59th Street and abruptly stop halfway between 7th and 8th Avenues.

I wonder if these trackways have the potential to fly over or dodge under the existing express tracks. My bet is that if they exist, they are probably cut through like the Manhattan Bridge connection or the Flushing Line extension to Hudson Yards.

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