Off the top of my head, the 7 extension would allow for a one-seat ride from Secaucus to Queens, which is better than the ARC plan, but would not allow one-seat rides from elsewhere in NJ to midtown Manhattan, which is worse. Since the 7 is an IRT-spec train with 9' loading gauge, no other trains could be run on those tracks (at least, not without gauntlet tracks or separate platforms), so the flexibility provided would be less.
I tend to agree with the view that through-running NJT to the Metro-North and LIRR (and vise-versa) is a better plan than building a new deep-cavern station and forcing more transfers in midtown, so I prefer the idea of building a new interstate/commuter rail tunnel that increases the traffic capacity (and redundancy) across the Hudson, but doing this for commuter transit, and a more high-speed-oriented tunnel for Amtrak at a later date, would be totally fine with me. Also, I'd like $20 billion worth of ponies.
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Date: 2010-11-18 06:02 am (UTC)Off the top of my head, the 7 extension would allow for a one-seat ride from Secaucus to Queens, which is better than the ARC plan, but would not allow one-seat rides from elsewhere in NJ to midtown Manhattan, which is worse. Since the 7 is an IRT-spec train with 9' loading gauge, no other trains could be run on those tracks (at least, not without gauntlet tracks or separate platforms), so the flexibility provided would be less.
I tend to agree with the view that through-running NJT to the Metro-North and LIRR (and vise-versa) is a better plan than building a new deep-cavern station and forcing more transfers in midtown, so I prefer the idea of building a new interstate/commuter rail tunnel that increases the traffic capacity (and redundancy) across the Hudson, but doing this for commuter transit, and a more high-speed-oriented tunnel for Amtrak at a later date, would be totally fine with me. Also, I'd like $20 billion worth of ponies.