Let’s see—construction is underway to build a tunnel that would provide the LIRR with access to Grand Central Station in New York City, because apparently GCT is seen as a more desirable destination for Long Islanders than Penn.
Now, the Courant is reporting that Metro North is seeking to head the opposite direction:
The DOT and Metro-North, at the governor’s direction, have discussed the Penn Station expansion for about a year.
Rell considers the expansion one of her top goals in the past three years, noting that regional transit linkage to New Jersey and other states is key.
Rell has asked DOT to study the feasibility of purchasing double-decker rail cars to be used for service from Connecticut to Penn Station; each car would seat up to 140 passengers.
In both cases, the inconvenience of riding the subway a couple of stops is cited as a reason for seeking the other station.
While having more transit options is always nice when heading into the city, I wonder if this is a bit much in the fuss department. It’s nice not having to keep a mental schedule to know which station to head to when trying to get out of the City. We aren’t talking about a terribly significant difference in distance between the two terminii, especially when you consider the vagaries in train scheduling many days.
Perhaps resources would be better spent improving capacity into the two stations, rather than in simply trying to get the LIRR and Metro North access to the other’s station?