r/nycrail

Alternative AA, also known as the "Penn Station-Grand Central Through Operation," was a central proposal in the Access to the Region's Core (ARC) project designed to enable shared commuter rail facilities between NJ Transit, LIRR, and Metro-North. While initially selected for its ability to increase capacity and connect Penn Station to Grand Central, the project underwent significant modifications and evaluation of variants before its eventual cancellation (by that time, it was known as Alternative G).

###### Commentary by Liam Blank:

Why were Alternative AA and Alternative G (it's successor) ultimately disqualified?

The official record cites lowest peak-hour capacity (36 vs. 40/52 trains), unresolved GCT construction risks, slow inter-terminal operating speeds, bi-directional operational conflicts, and the West Side development factor. But the unofficial record (also documented in my research) makes clear that Metro-North's institutional unwillingness to share operational control — whether driven by Howard Permut's leadership philosophy, the MTA's bureaucratic autonomy, or genuine concern about reliability — removed the essential inter-agency cooperation that Alt G required. The technical and the political were inseparable. By definition, through-running can't succeed if one of the two required railroads refuses to cooperate.

At an NJT board meeting in June 2003, when cancellation of Alt G was announced, a senior NJT manager reportedly explained the decision by saying "We don't have a dancing partner" — apparently a direct reference to the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North's unwillingness to cooperate.

Buried in today’s Amtrak/USDOT announcement selecting Penn Transformation Partners is a major line: the Penn Station transformation will “expand track capacity, including the introduction of at least limited through-running on the regional rail network.”

That does not yet answer the hard questions: which services, which partner railroads, which platforms, which tunnels, what dwell assumptions, what fleet compatibility, and when the FRA-led Service Optimization Study becomes public.

But it does change the baseline. Through-running is no longer just an outside advocacy proposal. Amtrak is now describing it as part of the official Penn Station transformation program.

I’ve been using a 77mm Nisha double exposure lens filter capturing these in camera on the Canon R5. It’s hard to get right but when things line up it’s exciting for me to see the results when I like them, just how I imagined it’d look when I got the initial idea.

These are all subway archeology that I found it!!!
If you know of any stations that still have the old signs, please let me know!!!

At least it's not during rush hour this time.

Hi all!

I'm happy and excited to share the NYC Live Metro Map is now officially available for purchase here: Live Metro Maps

I created a limited time discount code "RDDT" for $100 off + free shipping for anyone from here who's interested.

For those of you who don't know - the basic goal of this project was to create a super detailed and accurate live display of the NYC subway map down to the track level. The board will display all real-time service changes and delays, and you can distinguish between individual routes on the same trunk by switching to the original Vignelli colors (shown in the 2nd photo).

Since my last post I've done a handful of "test" orders (including from some lurkers on here) - good chance to test out shipping/packaging, catch any additional bugs, and get other people's real thoughts. So far no major issues or returns :) - but if one of you happens to see this post feel free to share your honest thoughts.

And of course, see if you can find all the service changes in the images above!

Once again, I really appreciate all the support and encouragement I've gotten from this community! Bringing this project to fruition has been an incredibly rewarding experience personally, but it's cool to see others thinking it's cool too.

The sign runs on an Intel 8051 CPU and I did manage to dump the Mask ROM of the 8051 drive board and I am now working on getting it to work with an Arduino. One of my panels had a tear on the ribbon cable, so I decided to do a Cove screen mod in place of the panel that had the torn ribbon (the modern black PCB). I am planning on having a Thin client PC communicate to it using one USB via the FTDI serial chip to the Arduino and another USB to the Cove screen mod.

the Mets station will soon be accessible. I wonder how the LIRR will do the same for that Mets Station.