New-York tribune., 1909-10-03
DEPTHS YIELD PASSAGE
FeatS of II. X. u. Engineers Under
ground Il 900 Trains Daily Planned

One Thousand trains of ears running under
ground every day between New Jersey and Long
Island over a system costing S1O16o1ef1 rs she
plan by which IN Pennsylvania Railroad next
May intends TO promote the interests OF trav-
ellers simultaneously with the opening %
traffic at tn time through its newly completed
tubes under he Hudson the steel cars of this
company VI also pass beneath the East River
and Long Is and City to the terminal az Sunny
side yard putting in operation one OF t.e most
notable works Of railroad history.
Solid rock and periIous quicksand have been
overcome by the skin and daring OF modern
engineering in a long and silent battle seventy
feet below the surface Of the river. Now only
handful of the thousands OF wOrkmen remain %
finish laying tracks in the completed tubes and
20 apply the final touch to the terminals
OF special interest is the section Of the TUNES
between the monumental station Manhattan
Island and Long Island City The contract for
this work was signed on July = 1904 On Oc-
tober 20 following the first shaft had been finished
by S. Pearson & Son, contractors and the ex-
cavatiOns at each end Of the section were well
under way The boring OF the tubes was by the
shield method. iron tube twenty three feet in
diameter being driven through the mud and
sand by hydraulic Jacks Each shield. with its
machinery weighed go tons. and was moved By
twenty-seven jacks. Water vas kept out of the
compartment by compressed air and as the
shield moved forward the ir7n rings Of the tube
were put in place
A curious feature Of the whole scheme is the
crossing of one tunnel over another as the tubes
draw near the Sunnyside yards on Long Island
The PennsyIvania's road. from the main line
near Harrison, y J., is a double track line a
track extending in each Of the Two tubes under
the Hudson TO sd street Entering the station
they spre ad fanwise, and converting east Of
the station from twenty-One tracks into. first
six and then four tracks. they continue in four
single track tunnels below the East River
Then, in order to bring tie pair of eastbounJ
tracks on the same side of the station ar sunny
side, two OF the tubes have been Iayered in an
/ open cut. Passengers will not realize THAT they
have been carried over or under another tube IN
making this trip To Long Island CITY. for there
viii be no Indication of the big excavations now
visible at the surface, and the incIines though
| occurring on the land section toward Slnaystda.
are gradual enough to escape perception At
this eastern end two tubes. conseq quentIy. empty
their trains above the other two the upper ones
having been carried up at a gradient Of 10 per
cent from the bulkhead line. below which in
the river the four tubes are at q single level
| Long Island Railroad trains viii De running
into the SD street station on Manhattan in
February in all probability There the greater
part Of the terminal is underground notvith-
standing the half million cubic feet of granite.
! the 1900 tons of steel and 15-Ct000 bricks
visible n the exterior. The underground AREA
is about twenty-eight acres, with sixteen miles
of standing room for trains and four miles for
passengers.
The early completion of the eastern section Of
L