The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-04
REBUILDING TIE
 GRAND CENTRAL
Magnificent Structure to Rise on the Forty second
 Street Site.
CONSISTS OF THREE PARTS
Cigging Underground for Tiers of Tracks the Principal
 Trouble.

After more than three years work, little of which has been apparent to the public, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad will, early this month, begin it's final steps toward one of the most perfect stations and elab- crate systems of terminal facilities in the world.
 Although so many years have pass ed without any appreciable change in conditions at the Grand Central Sta tion, except the switching of suburban traffic to the old Grand Central Palace for temporary terminal, most of the hardest work has been accomplished. From now on the work will be to build new station, prepare for three layers of tracks, surface, first depth and second depth, and arrange for the complete Identification of the rail- road. In all of these plans the New York, New Haven and Hartford rail- road is a silent partner. The enor- nous amount of $7O,OOO,0O0 will have been expended before the work is com- plet5.
 While the improvements have been under way the Central has found it. self forced to solve the problem of taking cars of 1,O27 movements of trains every twenty-four hours and to keep the trains on schedule time. This, so far, with few unavoidable exceptions, has been accomplished. It has been SO planned that when the work of demolishing the old station is begun early this month the trains will be kept moving in just the same way.
 The new Grand Central station will cover an area half as large again as the present station does. It will be bounded by the same streets as the present one, but underground. on two levels, will be separate stations, mak- ing practically three stations. The boundaries will be Forty second street, Depew place, Forty-fifth street and Vanderbilt avenue In the first and last of these streets the width will be greatly increased to provide drive ways on the property of the railway company. Depew place will be ex- tended northward as a private drive way and will be so widened as to al- low spacious standing room for bag gage and mail wagons.
 There are three salient characteris- tics In the plans. The first is the great increase in size, enabling all the facilities essential to a terminal to be much enlarged. The second Is the provision of three tiers of tracks to the station and yard, one for local ex- press service and third for suburban trains. The third essential is in the use of the terminal loop tracks on the suburban tier to facilitate loading and unloading and to reduce the terminal wait of the trains.
 While the station proper Is regard ed as consisting of three parts-the train shed, the concourse and the lob- bies-it will include gallery extend- | ing around the exterior, providing baggage room and allowing the con- course to be built as light area. The concourse, particularly on the express | landing, will be the largest, in the world, being 160 feet in width and All | feet in length. Various additional sub- divisions such as a general waiting room, lunch rooms and news stands, will occupy an almost equal space
 On the suburban level an entirely different construction is provided. There the concourse will be at the southern end of the building and will take the form of a great circular pla- teau, unbroken except for two stair ways and elevators. In the matter of storways particular attention has been given to the handling of passen- gers, and each pair of tracks will be provided with a separate outlet and entrance, while modes of egrsss and lingress will branch severally to the streets south, east and west.
 Although the building proper will be of only one story, it would be of un- usual height, and with the three tiers
 two below ground, will make a build- ling of more than ordinary size. Al first the plans called for building lmuch more compact in form than the
 final plans do. The plans now pro.
 vide for three sweeping arches al. lmost seni-circular, thirty-three feet
 wide and sixty feet high. These fig
 ures will give an idea of the particu.
 larly large internal proportions of tht
 main floor and concourse. The dome
 of the concourse will rise 15O fee
 above the first level of the tracks.
 For the exterior the material vii
 be of onyz columns at regular inter
 vals, and these will be the only relic
 from the dead white. The interior, es
 pecially in the waiting room and con lcourse, will also be of white marble
 Building the station itself has no
 been so much of a problem to the en
 gineers of the New York Central at
 the digging under ground for the vari
 oun tiers of tracks. Especially is thit
 true of the third tier, that for the su
 burban traffic. By beginning the de.
 pressiun of tracks as far away al
 Fifty-sixth street, 1t was found possi
 ble to have the tracks laid at differ
 ent grades 10 reach the different ley
 els. It will also allow viaducts con
 meeting each street with Forty -secon( street.
 The suburban level, the second be.
 low the surface, differs from the oth
 CTS in that the io3p terminal will b,
 used.
 By this method passengers on in,
 coming trains may alight at the righ
 hand side of the station, pass out 'by
 stairways either to the levels above
 and to the street or to the subway
 The trains, after being unloaded vii