New Subway Station Opens at 11th Avenue - 34th Street Manhattan

Last Sunday, a new subway station opened at 34th Street and 11th Avenue for the # 7 Flushing Line.  This extension is about 1.5 miles long and does not include an intermediate station.  There has been some talk on Subchat about the elevation of the area.  I was not able to obtain a shapefile containing the new extension.  I believe the tunnel built is continuously downhill .  Please see the map attached:

  In this map, in which the subway extension is not shown, the Flushing line ends at 41st Street and 7th Avenue  (short purple line).  I placed a label "  34th Street - 11 Avenue" on the map at the general location of the new station.  The elevation contour layer is measured in feet.  I also brought in a map of the Hudson River (yellow) without listing the depth.  The range appears to be approx. 62 feet to 15 feet at 34th Street.   It is a little difficult to read the altitudes, I should have made the font bigger!

To be continued....

Flushing Line Front Window View Video of Extension to 34th Street

Flushing Line (#7) Extension Video.  Please find attached this news item dealing with the extension of the Flushing Line extension to 34th Street.  Although the line is not scheduled to open until 2014, the line is operational but the signals and stations are not complete.  All I can say is Wow! .  Posted originally in subchat.  This item can be used only for news services.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H6RiLzW7ng&feature=player_embedded#t=0


Some Comments:

 1. This new extension was constructed using a boring machine at great depth.  This is quite different than traditional "cut and cover" construction close to the surface.

 2.  Notice an unfinished shell of a future station.

3)  Notice the huge 34th Street station.  Why are new stations constructed so fancy and expensive?  Could a "generic station" serve its intended purpose while freeing up some money to extend the line to 23rd Street?  The tracks already extend south of the 34th street station to around West 25th Street.  In my humble opinion, having a "palace" of a station does not add more accessibility to a station than an extension does.

4)  There is no sign of the IND 42nd Street 8th Avenue Lower single track station that the line crosses as about track level at 90 degrees.  That  42nd Street lower station is now destroyed.  Perhaps if there was a link here, the IRT Flushing Line could have gone to 59th Street-Columbus Circle.  Of course there are many issues to solve, naming train width and signaling problems.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H6RiLzW7ng&feature=player_embedded#t=0

  A commenter at Subchat said that at 3:00 you can see the remains of the 42nd Street - 8 th Avenue IND Lower level station which is at right angles to the path of the train.  You can see a yellow painted pillar I believe.  The lower level 42nd Street station was the locale of some well known movies in past years.  The lower level, which is one track, saw some limited service and may have been the starting point of "Aqueduct Specials" to the racetrack, many years ago.  It is a strange station.

Steinway Tunnel Trolley Map 1907 and Queensboro Plaza Area Maps

Source: B. Linder, "Flushing Line Queensboro Plaza Area, 1924-38", "Flushing & Astoria Lines Queensboro Plaza Area, 1917-1924", "Steinway Tunnel Trolley 1907", in New York Division Bulletin, ERA, Vol .34, No. 1, January, 1992, pp.3,5.

  The Queensboro Plaza elevated station has today four tracks on two levels with center island platforms.  In years past, the complex was more complex with eight tracks on two levels.  The service pattern was more complex with joint BMT IRT operation on I believe both branches. The 2nd Avenue El also ran to the plaza after crossing the Queensboro Bridge.  In the left hand corner of one of the maps, is an interesting diagram of the Steinway Tunnel Trolley that was originally built between Lexington Avenue (Grand Central) and 21Street in Queens.  I believe that although the wire was up and the system was complete, no revenue trips were run using trolleys and the tunnel was unused after many years until it was converted to subway rapid transit configuration with third rails.  These two tubes are used today by Number 7 Flushing Line trains.