Chapter 2

+===============================================+=========================+ | | First 10 | Next 15 | | | years. | years. | |-----------------------------------------------+------------+------------+ |For river rights | $200.00 | $200.00 | |For tunnel rights in Manhattan Borough, being | | | | 44,341 ft. (partly estimated) of single track | 22,170.00 | 44,341.00 | |For tunnel rights in Queens Borough, being | | | | 8,100 ft. (partly estimated) of single track | 2,025.00 | 4,050.00 | |For street rights on Thirty-first and | | | | Thirty-third Streets, north and south of | | | | terminal | 14,000.00 | 28,000.00 | +-----------------------------------------------+------------+------------+ | In all, per annum | $38,395.00 | $76,591.00 | +===============================================+============+============+

If the route under Thirty-first Street be availed of, these amounts will be increased by $16,652.50 for the first ten years, and by $33,305 for the next fifteen years.

The amounts to be paid are to be readjusted at the end of twenty-five years; and thereafter at intervals of twenty-five years. If the city and the Railroad Company shall not agree upon the readjusted rates, they are to be determined by the Supreme Court of this State.

_Fifth._--The railroad to be entirely in tunnel except where it approaches the surface at its eastern terminal near Thomson Avenue, in Queens Borough. The uppermost part of the tunnel is to be at least nineteen feet below the surface of the street; but this limitation does not apply to the portions of Thirty-first and Thirty-third Streets opposite the terminal station between Seventh and Ninth Avenues, where the Company may occupy the underground portions of the street under the roadway to within thirty inches of the surface, and under the sidewalks on Thirty-first and Thirty-third Streets opposite to the station to within five feet of the surface, the company to properly care for sewers, water, gas and other pipes and underground structures lawfully in the street.

_Sixth._--The company to make good all damage done to property of the city by its construction work or operations, and to abutting owners all damage done through any fault or negligence of the company, or of any contractor or sub-contractor engaged upon its work of construction or operation. The Tunnel Company to keep Thirty-first and Thirty-third Streets opposite the station well paved with smooth pavement and in thoroughly good condition.

_Seventh._--Tunnel excavations to be done without disturbing the surface of the street, except in the portions of Thirty-first and Thirty-third Streets, and Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Avenues in front of the terminal station, and except in Queens Borough, with the power to the Rapid Transit Board, wherever conditions elsewhere make surface excavation necessary for efficient construction, to grant the right for such excavation, subject to conditions to be then prescribed by the Board. The tracks are to be constructed of the most approved plan so as to avoid noise or tremor. All plans for, and the method of doing, the work are made subject to the approval of the Rapid Transit Board.

_Eighth._--The motive power to be electricity, or such other power not involving combustion as may be approved by the Board.

_Ninth._--The company to have no power to carry on merely local traffic, except with the approval of the Board and for additional consideration to be paid the city. Traffic is defined as local which begins and ends in the city within five miles of the terminal station on Seventh and Ninth Avenues.

_Tenth._--The railroad to be diligently and skillfully operated, with due regard to the convenience of the traveling public.

_Eleventh._--The city to have a lien upon the franchise and real property of the company to secure the payment of rental.

_Twelfth._--The rights of the city to be enforceable by action, for specific performance, or mandamus, or otherwise.

_Thirteenth._--The company not to oppose the construction of any rapid transit railroad along or across the same routes which do not actually interfere with the authorized structures of the company.

_Fourteenth._--The city to have an ample right of inspection of the railroad, and to enter upon it for examination, supervision, or care of city property, or for other purposes.

_Fifteenth._--The company to be bound to maintain and strengthen all parts of its railways under streets or avenues so that the same shall support safely any structures superimposed or which may hereafter be superimposed thereon by the city or under public authority.

_Sixteenth._--The company to have the right to convey or mortgage the franchise, but every grantee, whether directly or under a mortgage, to assume the obligations already assumed by the Railroad Company and the Railroad Company not to be relieved of such obligations by the grant.

This franchise was passed by the Board of Aldermen on December 16th and approved by the Mayor on December 23d, 1902.

Subsequently, an agreement, dated June 21st, 1907, was entered into by the City of New York, the Tunnel Company, and the Long Island Railroad Company covering the construction of the Sunnyside Yard, which forms the eastern terminus of the line.

In pursuance of this agreement, the map or plan of the City of New York was changed by discontinuing or closing portions of fifty streets or avenues, and by changing the grades of sixteen streets or avenues, in the Borough of Queens, and the portions of streets and avenues thus discontinued and closed, most of which were not opened for public use, were sold to the Railroad Companies. The agreement, however, reserved to the City permanent and perpetual underground rights and easements to maintain in a reasonable manner, not inconsistent with the construction and operation of the railroad facilities of the Companies, its existing sewers, drains, and other sub-surface structures in, under, and through the lands within the lines of the discontinued portions of each of such streets and avenues, including the right to repair, rebuild, and enlarge the same, and to construct in a reasonable manner, not inconsistent with the construction and operation of the railroad facilities of the Companies, such additional sewers or drains in, under, or through the lands as may be hereafter required by the City, together with the right to enter upon the premises from time to time as may be necessary for the purpose of inspecting, repairing, constructing, or rebuilding the sub-surface structures.

The agreement required the Companies to construct at their expense, four viaducts or bridges over their tracks and terminal development, three with roadways 42 ft. wide, one with a roadway 60 ft. wide, and each to have two sidewalks 10 ft. wide, the work to include the paving of the roadways and sidewalks.

The Companies are further required to pay one-half the cost of the construction of the foundations, abutments, piers, superstructures, and approach of an additional viaduct or bridge over the Sunnyside Yard, to have a roadway not more than 60 ft. wide and two sidewalks each 10 ft. wide, and to grant the City of New York a perpetual easement for the continuance of the same in the location upon which it shall be constructed.

The agreement further provides that the Companies shall not injure the sewers or other substructures now existing or hereafter constructed under the streets and avenues, and, in case of injury, that they shall repair them or pay the cost thereof; that the viaducts shall be completed within the shortest time consistent with their safe and proper construction, and that during their construction temporary streets shall be provided for the accommodation of traffic.

The Companies are required to bear all the expense of changes of grade in the streets and avenues, except those made necessary by the construction of the viaduct or bridge to be paid for in part by the City; to indemnify the City against all liability for any and all damages which may accrue on account of any street which may be closed or the grades of which may be changed in pursuance of the agreement; to assume all liabilities by reason of the construction or operation of the railroads, or the construction of the viaducts, and to save the city harmless from any liability whatever, to either persons or property, by reason of the construction or operation of the railroads or the construction of the viaducts.

The Companies are also required to indemnify the City against and pay the cost of all alterations which may be required to the sewerage or drainage system or to any sub-surface structures and pipes laid in the streets or avenues on account of the construction and operation of the terminal, passenger yard, or freight yard of the Companies, or on account of the changes in grades or street system.

The Companies are authorized, if they deem it necessary to the construction or to the efficient operation of the terminal passenger yard or freight yard, to depress, at their expense, any pipes or other sub-surface structures now under the surface of any of the portions of the streets or avenues discontinued or closed, or to elevate and carry the same upon any of the viaducts or bridges, the plans of such depression or elevation to be approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

All works within, upon, or over the public streets and avenues are subject to the supervision and inspection of the proper municipal officer or officers, under such regulations as he or they may determine and be authorized by law to impose; and the plans for the construction of viaducts or bridges are to be approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

The Companies are required to cede to the City of New York perpetual easements for the right to continue and maintain the viaducts or bridges over the streets and avenues, sufficient for their control by the City for the purpose of police regulation and other control contemplated by the City ordinances for the case of streets or highways; reserving, however, the right to construct and maintain, at their own expense, such connections between the viaducts or bridges and their property as shall not interfere with the use of the viaducts or bridges for street purposes.

The Companies are also required to cede to the City, grade and curb, portions of five existing or proposed streets or avenues, and to pave portions of two other avenues.

Mr. A. J. Cassatt, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was President of the Companies constituting the New York Tunnel Extension until his death on December 28th, 1906, and Mr. James McCrea, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was elected his successor, and is now President of the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company.

Mr. Samuel Rea, Second Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, has served as Vice-President since the incorporation of the enterprise.

Mr. A. J. County has been Assistant to the President since June 26th, 1907, and prior thereto and from the incorporation of the tunnel enterprise served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York Railroad Company and as Assistant Secretary of the Pennsylvania, New York and Long Island Railroad Company, which, as heretofore stated, constitute the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company.

ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION.

Mr. Rea, Vice-President, has general charge of all matters involved in the designing and execution of the project.

_The Board of Engineers._--Before the beginning of the work, the Management appointed a Board of Engineers which was instructed to examine into the New York Tunnel Extension project; to pass upon the practicability of the undertaking; to determine upon the best plans for carrying it out; to make a careful estimate of its cost; and, if the work was undertaken, to exercise general supervision over its construction.

President Cassatt's letter appointing the Board contains the following further instructions:

"You are requested to procure all additional information that may be needed, sparing neither time nor any necessary expense in doing so, for I am sure it is not necessary for me to say that, in view of the magnitude and great cost of the proposed construction, and of the novel engineering questions involved, your studies should be thorough and exhaustive, and should be based upon absolute knowledge of the conditions."

The Board was organized on January 11th, 1902, when it held its first session, and continued in the performance of its duties until April 30th, 1909, when it was dissolved, its work having been completed.

The Board held regular and special sessions to receive progress reports from the Chief Engineers in direct charge of construction, and to consider questions relating to the plans and details of the work submitted by its members or referred to it by the Management. It then reported its conclusions to the Vice-President for approval before the work was undertaken.

The Management earnestly impressed upon the Board throughout the whole period of its labors, that the Tunnel Extension and facilities were to be designed and constructed without regarding cost as a governing factor, the main considerations being safety, durability, and proper accommodation of the traffic. No expenditure tending to insure these conditions was to be avoided.

The Board, when organized, was composed as follows: Col. Charles W. Raymond, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, Chairman; Messrs. Gustav Lindenthal, Charles M. Jacobs, Alfred Noble, and William H. Brown.

Mr. George Gibbs was appointed a member of the Board on April 9th, 1902. Mr. Lindenthal resigned on December 15th, 1903, and Mr. Brown resigned on March 1st, 1906. Mr. Rea and all the members of the Board are members of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and Mr. Noble is a Past-President of the Society.

Mr. William R. Mead, of the firm of McKim, Mead, and White, Architects for the Terminal Station, was associated with the Board for the consideration of architectural subjects.

Mr. Robert H. Groff, Secretary of the Company, was also Secretary of the Board until his resignation on January 31st, 1907. Mr. William Couper was Acting-Secretary from April 15th, 1907, to April 30th, 1909.

S. Johannesson, Assoc. M. Am. Soc. C. E., was Engineer Assistant to the Chairman from December 1st, 1905, to April 30th, 1909.

_Division of the Work._--For the purposes of actual construction, the line was divided into four parts: the Meadows Division, the North River Division, the Terminal Station, and the East River Division. A chief engineer appointed by the Management had charge of the construction of each Division. The chief engineers exercised full authority in the organization of the working forces, and in the general conduct and management of the work of construction on their respective Divisions, in accordance with the plans for such work approved by the Board of Engineers and the Management.

Architects were employed to design the Terminal Station building and superintend its erection; and structural engineers to design and erect steel structures and facilities, and carry on the work under the direction of a Chief Engineer of the Company.

Committees, consisting principally of officers of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, co-operating with the regular engineering organization, were appointed to consider the operating features of the project, so that the experience of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's organization might be utilized in the work.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LINE.

The following summary description of the various divisions of the line is intended to give a comprehensive idea of the general features of the project. Full details will be given in succeeding papers. The line and its respective divisions are shown on Plate I.

_Meadows Division._--Chief Engineer until March 1st, 1906, Mr. William H. Brown, Chief Engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, when he retired from active service with the latter Company; since March 1st, 1906, Mr. Alexander C. Shand, Chief Engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

This Division consists of an "interchange yard" at Harrison, near Newark, N. J., adjoining the tracks of the present New York Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and a double-track railroad across the Hackensack Meadows to the west side of Bergen Hill, a distance of 6.04 miles. The construction is embankment and bridge work, including bridges across the Pennsylvania, Erie, and Lackawanna Railroads, and the Hackensack River.

_North River Division._--Chief Engineer, Mr. Charles M. Jacobs.

This Division commences at the west side of Bergen Hill and passes through the hill in two single-track rock tunnels to a large permanent shaft at Weehawken, near the west shore of the North River, and thence eastward a distance of 224 ft. to the Weehawken shield-chamber. It then passes under the river through two cast-iron, concrete-lined, single-track tunnels, with outside diameters of 23 ft., to a point under 32d Street, near Eleventh Avenue, in New York City, and thence through two single-track tunnels of varying cross-section, partly constructed in cut-and-cover, to the east side of Tenth Avenue. It then passes into the Station Yard and terminates at the east building line of Ninth Avenue. The work included the Station Yard excavation and walls from Tenth Avenue to Ninth Avenue, and the retaining walls and temporary underpinning of Ninth Avenue. The aggregate length of the line in this Division is 2.76 miles.

_New York Station and Approaches._--Mr. George Gibbs, Chief Engineer of Electric Traction and Station Construction.

The Station and its approaches extend from the east line of Tenth Avenue eastward to points in 32d Street and 33d Street, respectively, 292 ft. and 502 ft. east of the west line of Seventh Avenue. This Division included the construction of subways and bridges for the support of 31st and 33d Streets and Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Avenues, the Station building between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, the foundations for the post office to be erected west of Eighth Avenue, the service power-house in 31st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, the power-house in Long Island City, the traction system, tracks, signals, and miscellaneous facilities required in the physical construction of the entire terminal railroad ready for operation. Messrs. McKim, Mead, and White were the architects for the Station and Messrs. Westinghouse, Church, Kerr and Company executed the structural engineering work, both in the station and for the support of the streets, as well as the construction of the subways.

The station is of steel skeleton construction with masonry curtain walls, all supported by a system of columns extending to a rock foundation. This building covers two city blocks and one intersecting street, and has an area of about 8 acres. It is 774 ft. long, 433 ft. wide, with an average height above the street of 69 ft., and a maximum of 153 ft. The main waiting-room is 277 ft. long, 103 ft. wide and 150 ft. high. The Concourse is 340 ft. long and 210 ft. wide.

The level of the track system below the street surface varies from 39 to 58 ft., and is from 7 to 10 ft. below mean high water in the harbor, thereby necessitating the establishment of an elaborate system of drainage over the entire station yard area. Access to the street is gained by elevators and stairways.

To accelerate the loading and unloading of the trains, high platforms will be constructed in the station on a level with the floors of the cars, in order to avoid the use of car steps and increase the traffic capacity of the station.

There will be 21 standing-tracks at the station, and 11 passenger platforms, providing 21,500 ft. of platform adjacent to passenger trains. Within the station area, which from Tenth Avenue to the normal tunnel sections east of Seventh Avenue comprises 28 acres, there will be a total of about 16 miles of track.

The service plant for the installation of machinery for lighting, heating, and ventilating the station, and for operating the interlocking system, is located in an independent building south of the station.

The Power-House to supply the electrical energy for the operation of the tunnel line and the Long Island Railroad is situated on property in Queens Borough adjoining the present Long Island Railroad Station near the East River, and was constructed under the Chief Engineer of Electric Traction and Station Construction. As at present designed, the dimensions of the structure are 200 ft. by 262 ft., outside measurement. It can accommodate six generating units of 5,500 kw., the standard adopted for future work, and two of 2,500 kw. for lighting the tunnels. The ultimate capacity of this station when extended will be about 105,000 kw.

_East River Division._--Chief Engineer, Mr. Alfred Noble.

This Division begins at the eastern limits of the New York Station at a point in 32d Street, 292 ft. east of the west line of Seventh Avenue, and at a point in 33d Street, 502 ft. east of the west line of Seventh Avenue, and also includes the excavation work and retaining walls for the station site and yard, to the track level, westward to Ninth Avenue. It extends eastward from the station under 32d and 33d Streets through tunnels partly three-track and partly so-called twin tunnels to Second Avenue; thence the line curves to the left under private property to permanent shafts a few feet east of First Avenue. Four single-track, cast-iron, concrete-lined tunnels, with outside diameters of 23 ft., pass under the East River, and, after passing through permanent shafts near the bulkhead line, reach the surface in Long Island City from 3,000 to 4,200 ft. east of the East River. The tunnel portals are in Sunnyside Yard, which extends to Woodside, the easterly end of the Division, and the Yard grading with its buildings and a number of City viaducts crossing it were executed under this Division. The total length of the Division is 4.48 miles.

The total length of the entire line is 13.66 miles. There are 6.78 miles of single-track tube tunnels, and the average length of the tunnels between portals is 5.56 miles.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.

Details have been omitted from the foregoing description, as they can be treated better and more fully by the constructing engineers in succeeding papers. There are, however, some general considerations involved in the designing of the work, which may, perhaps, be referred to more conveniently in this introductory paper, and these will now receive attention.