The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) selected Jacobs as the prime designer for Penn Station Access project which is the largest expansion of Metro-North’s regional rail system in its history.
Jacobs will develop a digital model and will design the expansion and support construction, which will be led by the Halmar International/Railworks joint venture.
Penn Station Access will provide direct Metro-North service between the Bronx, Westchester and Connecticut to Penn Station on Manhattan’s west side. The project includes the design of four new accessible stations in the Bronx, 30.5 km of new and rehabilitated tracks which will extended from the existing second track to a quadruple rail system. The project includes the rehabilitation of 4 bridges, 4 new and one reconfigured interlockings, the construction of 5 new substations and the upgrade of two existing substations and the modernisation of the signalling, power and communication infrastructure.
The project will use the existing infrastructure along Amtrak’s Hellgate Line and improve regional connections at Penn Station to the Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak. This project will strengthen the regional rail system, bridge communities and provide new commuting options for Bronx residents who are currently underserved by public transport.
The project will provide a second Metro-North route into Manhattan and another terminal for the rail system and will bring the Hell GateLine into a state of good repair, improve reliability and on-time performance for intercity passengers, and prepare the line for future high-speed rail.
Recently, MTA has announced that it has removed seven massive low-hanging beams which were part of the original structure of Penn Station but have been rendered obsolete as crews have built a new structural support system. The work is past of Governor Kathy Hochul’s plan to fully reconstruct the Penn Station for which a strategy has been unveiled that also covers surrounding neighborhood development.
Penn Station Access construction is scheduled to be launched by the fall of 2022 and the USD 2.9 billion project is expected to be completed in 2027.
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