Jacobs to Design Metro-North PSNY Access
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Artist’s rendering of a MTA Metro-North commuter train crossing Amtrak’s Hell Gate Bridge.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has selected Jacobs as prime designer for the Metro-North Penn Station Access Project.
The project would bring MTA Metro-North commuter rail service to Penn Station and Manhattan’s west side, along Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line on the Northeast Corridor (see map below); the final stop for all Metro-North trains is currently Grand Central Terminal. (In 2019, Amtrak’s Board of Directors approved an agreement with New York MTA that paved the way for the new service.)
Also included in the project are four new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible stations in the East Bronx—at Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park and Co-Op City—which would be part of the New Haven Line; 19 miles of new and rehabilitated track; four bridge rehabilitations; and the modernization of signal, power and communication infrastructure. At Penn Station, riders from Connecticut, Westchester and the Bronx would be able to connect with MTA Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH), and MTA New York City Transit subway and bus services. According to MTA, the commute from Co-op City to Penn Station would be reduced from 75 to 25 minutes, and the commute from Hunts Point to Penn Station would be cut from 45 to 16 minutes.
Dallas, Tex.-based Jacobs will design the expansion and support construction, which will be led by the Halmar International/Railworks Transit LLC Joint Venture (JV).
Specifically, Jacobs “will develop a digital model that will allow for the visualization of the complex interfaces between the different facets of the project, enhancing coordination and constructability, as well as communication with the myriad stakeholders,” the company reported during the March 8 contract award announcement.
The Metro-North Penn Station Access Project is slated for completion in 2027.
“This transformative program will create sustainable and equitable transportation options to and from Manhattan for Bronx, Westchester and Connecticut residents and communities,” Jacobs People & Places Solutions Senior Vice President Gary Morris said.
In related developments, the Federal Transit Administration last fall wrapped up an environmental review of the project, issuing a formal Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).
