(The following article by Mark Ginocchio was posted on the Stamford Advocate website on January 10.)
STAMFORD, Conn. — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently approved a $500,000 study of the Park Avenue tunnel that leads into Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan.
Metro-North Railroad officials said they hope the study will determine how well the tunnel is ventilated and how it would be evacuated in a fire or electrical blackout.
“The tunnel was built nearly 100 years ago, and we really haven’t changed the ventilation or the fire exits since then,” railroad spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. “So it’s probably due.”
The Park Avenue tunnel, which is a gateway for nearly 550 Metro-North trains a day, was built in 1874 and enclosed in 1921. It was renovated in 1990, but recent events, including the August 2003 blackout, has left Metro-North officials wondering whether it needs upgrades.
“When we had the blackout, there were nine trains and 1,000 customers stuck in the tunnel,” said Dan Brucker, another railroad spokesman. “And while we got every person out within an hour and it was successful, there are still some real challenges for that tunnel.”
The tunnel stretches from 97th Street to 42nd Street in New York City and is relatively untested for emergencies, Brucker said.
Since 1984, Metro-North has simulated disasters such as train collisions and smoke-outs in the tunnel, but railroad officials agree a more comprehensive study could produce new information.
“We’ve made good use of what we’ve done,” Brucker said. “But there’s still more we might want to know in dealing with or being prepared for an emergency situation.”
According to an April 2004 study by the American Public Transportation Association in Washington, D.C., security was a priority for many transit agencies, even before Sept. 11, 2001, but funding has been scarce.
The study reports about $6 billion is needed for security enhancements nationwide, but cites a funding shortfall of about $1.3 billion.
Most of the money has been spent on training staff and upgrading emergency procedures and little has been allotted to infrastructure and other capital improvements, said Greg Hull, director of operations and security for the American Public Transportation Association.
“There just haven’t been funds dedicated to capital projects,” Hull said. “It’s been a real dilemma for the transportation industry.”
Brucker said Metro-North’s decision to study the tunnel was not based on terrorism concerns.
“If anything, we’re more focused on blackouts, fires or any other complications of that nature,” he said.
The MTA budgeted for the study and Metro-North will not receive financial assistance from the federal government, Brucker said.