The West Side Yard (officially the John D. Caemmerer West Side Yard) is a

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...

of 30 tracks owned by the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

on the

west side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Used to store

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

trains operated by the subsidiary

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

, the yard sits between West 30th Street, West 33rd Street, 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue. The yard includes storage tracks, a six-track indoor shop for light maintenance, a 12-car long platform for car cleaning, and lockers and a break room for employees. The yard sits at the north end of the

High Line The High Line is a elevated park, elevated linear park, greenway (landscape), greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the West Side (Manhattan), west side of Manhattan in New York City. The High Line's ...

, a former elevated freight railroad converted into a park, and south of the truck marshalling yard used by the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. It also sits above the 34th Street–Hudson Yards subway station, which opened in 2015. Before the yard opened in 1987, rush-hour trains to or from

Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals. Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * Pennsylvania Station (Cinc ...

had to run without passengers to storage yards on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, where the trains were stored during middays. The West Side Yard increased the LIRR's

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: on ...

capacity at Penn Station.

History

The site is bounded by between West 30th Street, West 33rd Street, 10th Avenue, and 12th Avenue. Around 1851, the

Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

built the yard as a depot for a line running down Eleventh Avenue, as trains were not permitted to operate south of West 32nd Street.

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

and later

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

expanded the rail yards and used them as a freight terminal up until the 1970s when Penn Central declared bankruptcy and its Manhattan properties were put up for sale. The rail yard was acquired by the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

. The northern portion was used for construction of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the southern portion became a train-storage yard used by the

. The yard was built because limited storage capacity at Penn Station forced LIRR trains to make non-passenger trips, or "

deadheads A Deadhead or Dead Head is a fan of the American rock band the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began travelling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings ...

", to storage yards on Long Island. These deadheads took up track space, thus limiting capacity on lines heading toward Penn Station The yard opened in 1987, immediately increasing train capacity through Penn Station. The West Side Yard is named after John D. Caemmerer, a

New York State Senator The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan compo ...

from East Williston who helped obtain $195.7 million for its construction. During construction, a tunnel was built under some of the east-west tracks, allowing

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

trains from Penn Station to turn north and travel to

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

via the

West Side Line The West Side Line, also called the West Side Freight Line, is a railroad line on the west side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Penn Station, from 34th Street, the line is used by Amtrak passenger service heading north via ...

. Amtrak trains began using this tunnel on April 7, 1991; before this, ''

Empire Service The ''Empire Service'' is an Inter-city rail service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States. The brand name originated with the New York Central Railroad in 1967. Trains on the line provide frequent daily service ...

'' trains originated from

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

Air rights

There has been a long series of proposals to develop the rail yard air rights, including for a major expansion of Midtown Manhattan by

William Zeckendorf William Zeckendorf Sr. (June 30, 1905 – September 30, 1976) was a prominent American real estate developer. Through his development company Webb and Knapp — for which he began working in 1938 and which he purchased in 1949 — he developed ...

in the 1950s and for a housing development considered by U.S. Steel in the 1960s. The West Side Yard was designed with space left between the tracks for columns to support development in

air rights Air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by others. This legal ...

above the tracks.

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

considered a possible move to the site in the mid-1980s. In the 1990s the air rights were considered as a possible location for a

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

stadium. The rail yard air rights were proposed by the

New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics The New York City 2012 Olympic bid was one of the five short-listed bids for the 2012 Summer Olympics, ultimately won by London. New York City's Olympic bid was managed by a private non-profit organization, NYC 2012, founded by Daniel L. Doctor ...

as the location for the media center, Olympic plaza, and

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

, to be occupied afterward by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. The eastern portion of the West Side Yard (east of 11th Avenue) was rezoned for residential and commercial use in January 2005 as part of the

Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project Hudson Yards is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan, bounded roughly by 30th Street in the south, 41st Street in the north, the West Side Highway in the west, and Eighth Avenue in the east.Chapter 11: Figures The area is the ...

. Following the defeat of the proposal to construct the

West Side Stadium West Side Stadium (also known as the New York Sports and Convention Center) was a proposed football and Olympic stadium to be built on a platform over the rail yards on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The stadium would have been ...

, the western portion of the rail yard was rezoned to accommodate residential and commercial development in December 2009. Construction started in December 2012. To support massive towers and other elements, a platform was built above the rail yard.

Tunnel box

The

Gateway Project The Gateway Program (originally Gateway Project) is the planned phased expansion and renovation of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail line between Newark, New Jersey and New York City, New York. The right-of-way runs between Newark Penn Station ...

is a proposal to build a

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

corridor to alleviate the

bottleneck Bottleneck literally refers to the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle near its opening, which limit the rate of outflow, and may describe any object of a similar shape. The literal neck of a bottle was originally used to play what is now known as ...

along the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

between

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.US Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

announced that $183 million had been dedicated to the "tunnel box" as part of

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

recovery funding. The underground concrete casing is long, wide, and approximately tall. Amtrak awarded

Tutor Perini Tutor Perini Corporation (formerly Perini Corporation) is one of the largest general contractors in the United States. At the end of 2013, it reported annual revenue of approximately $4.2 billion. Tutor Perini is headquartered in Sylmar, Cal ...

a $133 million contract to build a section of box tunnel. Construction started in December 2014 and was nearing completion , though funding disputes stalled the tunnel box's completion. The tunnel box was substantially complete by November 2017. The following phase would extend the casing between 11th and 12th Avenue as the development of Hudson Yards continues westward. Amtrak, NJ Transit, and the MTA have applied to the

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

for a $65 million matching grant for another long structure to preserve the right-of-way at 11th Avenue in Manhattan under a viaduct that was rehabilitated in 2009–2011.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 40, 45, 16, N, 74, 00, 11, W , display=title Long Island Rail Road Rail yards in New York (state) Transportation buildings and structures in Manhattan 1987 establishments in New York City Hudson Yards, Manhattan West Side Line

History

Air rights

Tunnel box

See also

References

External links