148-709: The Staten Island Tunnel is an abandoned, incomplete railway and subway tunnel in Staten Island , New York City . It was intended to connect railways on Staten Island (precursors to the modern-day Staten Island Railway ) to the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway , in Brooklyn , via a new crossing under the Narrows . Planned to extend 10,400 feet (3,200 m), the tunnel would have been among
296-408: A crank on a driving axle. Steam locomotives have been phased out in most parts of the world for economical and safety reasons, although many are preserved in working order by heritage railways . Electric locomotives draw power from a stationary source via an overhead wire or third rail . Some also or instead use a battery . In locomotives that are powered by high-voltage alternating current ,
444-586: A dining car . Some lines also provide over-night services with sleeping cars . Some long-haul trains have been given a specific name . Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with outlying, surrounding areas, or provide a regional service, making more stops and having lower speeds. Commuter trains serve suburbs of urban areas, providing a daily commuting service. Airport rail links provide quick access from city centres to airports . High-speed rail are special inter-city trains that operate at much higher speeds than conventional railways,
592-710: A fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway , now part of the London Underground Northern line . This was the first major railway to use electric traction . The world's first deep-level electric railway, it runs from the City of London , under the River Thames , to Stockwell in south London. The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed by Charles Brown , then working for Oerlikon , Zürich. In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC , between
740-527: A funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . The line is still operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway. Wagonways (or tramways ) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate
888-488: A hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km (170 mi). Using experience he had gained while working for Jean Heilmann on steam–electric locomotive designs, Brown observed that three-phase motors had a higher power-to-weight ratio than DC motors and, because of the absence of a commutator , were simpler to manufacture and maintain. However, they were much larger than
1036-431: A steam engine that provides adhesion. Coal , petroleum , or wood is burned in a firebox , boiling water in the boiler to create pressurized steam. The steam travels through the smokebox before leaving via the chimney or smoke stack. In the process, it powers a piston that transmits power directly through a connecting rod (US: main rod) and a crankpin (US: wristpin) on the driving wheel (US main driver) or to
1184-469: A transformer in the locomotive converts the high-voltage low-current power to low-voltage high current used in the traction motors that power the wheels. Modern locomotives may use three-phase AC induction motors or direct current motors. Under certain conditions, electric locomotives are the most powerful traction. They are also the cheapest to run and provide less noise and no local air pollution. However, they require high capital investments both for
1332-681: A tunnelling shield , while the remainder would be placed in a trench at the bottom of the Narrows. In the final plans, each tunnel was designed to be 24 feet (7.3 m) wide to accommodate freight cars in addition to passenger service, with freight trains coming from the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s Bay Ridge Branch (terminating just north of the tunnel site) and the Staten Island Railway's connection with rail lines from New Jersey . Alternate plans included constructing two sets of two tubes, one for commuter and freight service from
1480-466: A depth of 35 feet (11 m) below the narrows. There would have been two lines of tunneling, parallel and close together. Wiman believed that the tunneling would cost $ 5 million and that with the connecting road, the total cost was estimated at $ 6 million. A rapid transit route to connect Staten Island to the remainder of New York City was proposed in 1912, in conjunction with the Dual Contracts of
1628-544: A diesel locomotive from the company in 1909. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through
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#17328517132441776-468: A double track plateway, erroneously sometimes cited as world's first public railway, in south London. William Jessop had earlier used a form of all-iron edge rail and flanged wheels successfully for an extension to the Charnwood Forest Canal at Nanpantan , Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge rails. Jessop became a partner in
1924-625: A freight tunnel running to New Jersey via a tunnel to Staten Island. However, the only option that was deemed feasible was one that went from the end of the Bay Ridge Branch in Brooklyn to Greenville Yard in Greenville, New Jersey , which could either go through Staten Island or directly under the New York Bay. While the route via Staten Island, estimated at $ 35 million, could potentially accommodate
2072-572: A freight yard to be built in the center of Staten Island, from which a trunk line would run across the Arthur Kill to New Jersey as far as Paterson , before merging with the West Shore Railroad . The new revised plan would only cover the Narrows Tunnel, and a three-mile spur to Arlington Yard . Under the new plan, freight would still only operate at night through the tunnel. Spurs connecting
2220-437: A large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Since 1980, rail transport has changed dramatically, but a number of heritage railways continue to operate as part of living history to preserve and maintain old railway lines for services of tourist trains. A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along
2368-488: A larger locomotive named Galvani , exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors , with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators . It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour) for a distance of one and a half miles (2.4 kilometres). It
2516-653: A line leading to a future Fort Hamilton-based tunnel. The tunnel had gone only 150 feet (46 m) into the Narrows before it was halted; multiple proposals have resurfaced to complete the tunnel. The tunnel and the Shore Road tunneling shafts currently lie dormant under Owl's Head Park in Bay Ridge . The South Street Shaft in Staten Island was filled in 1946 during post-World War II renovations of Saint George Terminal . The IND Second System proposal from 1929 estimated that
2664-423: A locomotive. This involves one or more powered vehicles being located at the front of the train, providing sufficient tractive force to haul the weight of the full train. This arrangement remains dominant for freight trains and is often used for passenger trains. A push–pull train has the end passenger car equipped with a driver's cab so that the engine driver can remotely control the locomotive. This allows one of
2812-543: A new plan for the freight and passenger tunnel, and the Board of Estimate recommended that $ 4.08 million be initially appropriated for the project. The Transit Commission and the Port Authority refused to accept the plan, as they each had their own plans. This plan was much less extensive than the original plan. The original plan would have had the tunnel from Owl's Head Park under the Narrows to Staten Island, and then continuing to
2960-477: A number of trains per hour (tph). Passenger trains can usually be into two types of operation, intercity railway and intracity transit. Whereas intercity railway involve higher speeds, longer routes, and lower frequency (usually scheduled), intracity transit involves lower speeds, shorter routes, and higher frequency (especially during peak hours). Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities. Trains typically have amenities such as
3108-416: A partially-elevated route running along the eastern coastline of New Jersey (near Greenville and Bayonne ). Both Manhattan plans would have required connections to various points, including Ellis Island or Governors Island , and would have traveled around 5 miles (8.0 km) without any stops. Because of this, the high costs of the potential tunnel, and the relatively small population of Staten Island,
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#17328517132443256-470: A passenger line at a cost of another $ 28 million, other costs made the direct route cheaper. In 1978, Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas studied four options for a tunnel from Brooklyn to New Jersey, some involving a tunnel to Staten Island. These included an option for a tunnel directly from Greenville Yard to the Bay Ridge Branch, and a link from New Jersey to Manhattan. Also under consideration
3404-650: A piece of circular rail track in Bloomsbury , London, the Catch Me Who Can , but never got beyond the experimental stage with railway locomotives, not least because his engines were too heavy for the cast-iron plateway track then in use. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's rack locomotive Salamanca built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. This twin-cylinder locomotive
3552-460: A pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive Blücher , also a successful flanged -wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the northeast of England, which became the first public steam railway in
3700-492: A plan by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to construct a tunnel under the Narrows to connect Staten Island with Brooklyn for both passenger and freight service. The proposal never made it through the approval process when financial challenges stopped the plan at the drawing board. The tunnel would have gone near the foot of Vanderbilt Avenue on Staten Island to Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, traveling 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (2.0 km) at
3848-510: A plan, saying, "The MTA should complete a 1912 plan that would have rail and freight access from the terminus of Victory Boulevard to Brooklyn, along 67th Street, then utilize the R train along Fourth Avenue." The plan's projected cost would be $ 3 billion, "the same as a proposed extension of the 7 line under the Hudson River ". Supporters stated that a rail tunnel would improve quality of life for Staten Islanders, reduce traffic, and increase
3996-736: A point between 65th and 67th Streets (just south of 59th Street Station ), running to Arrietta Street in Tompkinsville, Staten Island near the Tompkinsville Station and one stop away from the Saint George Terminal . This plan, referred to as "Route No. 51" under the Dual Contracts, would have had connections going north towards St. George and along the North Shore Branch towards Arlington , and south towards Tottenville on
4144-449: A report by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia 's special committee on transportation requirements of the Borough of Richmond, it was deemed that a tunnel to Staten Island from Manhattan was "unthinkable" and that a tunnel between Brooklyn and Staten Island was "not feasible now but must wait ten years". Robert Moses , who was the chairman of the committee and a known mass transit opponent, said that
4292-439: A revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO 2 emissions . Smooth, durable road surfaces have been made for wheeled vehicles since prehistoric times. In some cases, they were narrow and in pairs to support only the wheels. That is, they were wagonways or tracks. Some had grooves or flanges or other mechanical means to keep
4440-624: A set of vehicular tunnels from Fort Wadsworth , Staten Island, to 97th Street, Brooklyn. The tubes were being planned in conjunction with the Triborough Tunnel (the modern-day Queens Midtown Tunnel), which would connect Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. The city appropriated $ 5 million for the tunnels in July 1929. Boring work for the vehicular tunnels started in November 1930, but in January 1932, construction
4588-724: A single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, and was the prototype for all diesel–electric locomotive control systems. In 1914, world's first functional diesel–electric railcars were produced for the Königlich-Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen ( Royal Saxon State Railways ) by Waggonfabrik Rastatt with electric equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie and diesel engines from Swiss Sulzer AG . They were classified as DET 1 and DET 2 ( de.wiki ). The first regular used diesel–electric locomotives were switcher (shunter) locomotives . General Electric produced several small switching locomotives in
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4736-407: A standard. Following SNCF's successful trials, 50 Hz, now also called industrial frequency was adopted as standard for main-lines across the world. Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman . Sir William Thomson examined it in 1888 and described it as a "Priestman oil engine mounted upon a truck which
4884-620: A terminus about one-half mile (800 m) away. A funicular railway was also made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the River Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. The Wollaton Wagonway , completed in 1604 by Huntingdon Beaumont , has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from Strelley to Wollaton near Nottingham . The Middleton Railway in Leeds , which
5032-485: A tiny park on the corner of Bay Street and Victory Boulevard at the approximate spot—but Verrazzano's descriptions of the geography of the area are a bit ambiguous. It is fairly firmly held by historians that his ship anchored at the approximate location of the modern Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge 's approach viaduct in Brooklyn. He also observed what he believed to be a large freshwater lake to the north (apparently Upper New York Bay). He apparently did not travel north to observe
5180-588: A tunnel from Brooklyn to Jersey City, approximately following the planned path of the Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel, ten years later. The project was never started, despite efforts by government planners to start the project from the 1920s through the 1940s. In January 1935, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia solicited the PANYNJ's help to create a report, called the "Summary of Cross Bays Freight Tunnel Study (Routes via Staten Island)," detailing four routes for
5328-408: A wheel. This was a large stationary engine , powering cotton mills and a variety of machinery; the state of boiler technology necessitated the use of low-pressure steam acting upon a vacuum in the cylinder, which required a separate condenser and an air pump . Nevertheless, as the construction of boilers improved, Watt investigated the use of high-pressure steam acting directly upon a piston, raising
5476-410: Is a single, self-powered car, and may be electrically propelled or powered by a diesel engine . Multiple units have a driver's cab at each end of the unit, and were developed following the ability to build electric motors and other engines small enough to fit under the coach. There are only a few freight multiple units, most of which are high-speed post trains. Steam locomotives are locomotives with
5624-399: Is dominant. Electro-diesel locomotives are built to run as diesel–electric on unelectrified sections and as electric locomotives on electrified sections. Alternative methods of motive power include magnetic levitation , horse-drawn, cable , gravity, pneumatics and gas turbine . A passenger train stops at stations where passengers may embark and disembark. The oversight of the train is
5772-697: Is fed by the waters of the Hudson River (historically called the North River as it passes Manhattan ), as well as the Gowanus Canal . It is connected to Lower New York Bay by the Narrows , to Newark Bay by the Kill Van Kull , and to Long Island Sound by the East River , which, despite its name, is actually a tidal strait . It provides the main passage for the waters of the Hudson River as it empties through
5920-772: Is held that the Gambino crime family controlled the New York waterfront and the Genovese crime family controlled the New Jersey side. In 1984 the Teamsters local was put under Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) trusteeship, and in 2005 a similar suit was brought against the International Longshoremen's Association local. In March 2006, the Port passenger facility
6068-409: Is much healthier than it was 30 years ago." The Port of New York and New Jersey is the largest oil importing port and third largest container port in the nation. The commercial activity of the port of New York City, including the waterfronts of the five boroughs and nearby cities in New Jersey, since 1921 has been formalized under a single bi-state Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . Since
Staten Island Tunnel - Misplaced Pages Continue
6216-469: Is the U.S. Customs "green lane" program, in which trusted shippers have fewer containers inspected, providing easier access for contraband material. The water quality in New York Harbor has been affected by centuries of shipping activity, industrial development and urbanization . Water pollution from these sources has been a constant phenomenon, although there have been improvements in some areas of
6364-408: Is usually provided by diesel or electrical locomotives . While railway transport is capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or animal power have existed since antiquity, but modern rail transport began with the invention of the steam locomotive in
6512-550: Is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes." In 1894, a 20 hp (15 kW) two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks . In 1906, Rudolf Diesel , Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered
6660-631: The Access to the Region's Core tunnel, which was canceled in October 2010. State Senator Diane Savino was among the supporters of the tunnel; Savino stated that if built, the tunnel would cost $ 3 billion and would improve quality of life for Staten Islanders, reduce traffic, and increase the attractiveness of the borough for investment. Officially called the Brooklyn-Richmond Freight and Passenger Tunnel ,
6808-725: The East River tidal estuary , and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast of the United States . New York Harbor is also known as Upper New York Bay , which is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan , Brooklyn , and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne . The name may also refer to the entirety of New York Bay including Lower New York Bay . The harbor
6956-736: The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (today's PATH train) at Exchange Place . The service would have provided access to Lower Manhattan via the H&;M's Downtown Hudson Tubes to Hudson Terminal (now the site of the World Trade Center station). There were also plans to extend the line to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee . In 1929, after the cancellation of the plan to build a subway tunnel from Staten Island to Brooklyn, engineers proposed
7104-608: The Saint George Terminal in Staten Island (the South Street Shaft), costing a total of $ 1 million. On March 4, 1924, one of the caissons for the tunnel was sunk. In addition, in preparation for the tunnel, the SIRT purchased one hundred ME-1 subway cars built to BMT specifications and electrified its three passenger branches. The impending completion of the tunnel also sparked real estate interests in Staten Island. In 1925, however—the year bids from contractors were to be entertained by
7252-613: The Staten Island Railway 's rapid transit service (SIRT) to existing subway lines. The Manhattan proposal, often called the "direct route," would have connected with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s lines under Battery Park , near the current Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel . "Direct Route A" would have utilized a five-section tunnel under the New York Harbor , while "Direct Route B" would have used
7400-671: The United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. The first passenger railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened in 1825. The quick spread of railways throughout Europe and North America, following the 1830 opening of the first intercity connection in England, was a key component of the Industrial Revolution . The adoption of rail transport lowered shipping costs compared to water transport, leading to "national markets" in which prices varied less from city to city. In
7548-609: The United Kingdom , South Korea , Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short-haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates
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#17328517132447696-507: The Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge , built from 1959 to 1964, had been proposed to serve as the rail link. The 95th Street station was slated to be connected to the bridge, one of the world's longest suspension bridges, because it followed the route of the planned tunnel. However, no space for any tracks was ever built because of Moses's opposition to the expansion of New York City public transportation. Modern proposals for completion of
7844-656: The lower level yard just south of the station, currently used to relay terminating G trains. None of these plans were ever funded, due to the onset of the Great Depression and, subsequently, World War II . In 1945, the tunnel between New Brighton and the BMT Fourth Avenue Line in Brooklyn was submitted by the Board of Transportation to the City Planning Commission as part of the 1946 budget, this time costing $ 50.61 million. Later in 1945, according to
7992-414: The overhead lines and the supporting infrastructure, as well as the generating station that is needed to produce electricity. Accordingly, electric traction is used on urban systems, lines with high traffic and for high-speed rail. Diesel locomotives use a diesel engine as the prime mover . The energy transmission may be either diesel–electric , diesel-mechanical or diesel–hydraulic but diesel–electric
8140-458: The puddling process in 1784. In 1783 Cort also patented the rolling process , which was 15 times faster at consolidating and shaping iron than hammering. These processes greatly lowered the cost of producing iron and rails. The next important development in iron production was hot blast developed by James Beaumont Neilson (patented 1828), which considerably reduced the amount of coke (fuel) or charcoal needed to produce pig iron. Wrought iron
8288-418: The rotary phase converter , enabling electric locomotives to use three-phase motors whilst supplied via a single overhead wire, carrying the simple industrial frequency (50 Hz) single phase AC of the high-voltage national networks. An important contribution to the wider adoption of AC traction came from SNCF of France after World War II. The company conducted trials at AC 50 Hz, and established it as
8436-545: The 16th century New York Harbor, the Lenape , used the waterways for fishing and travel. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano anchored in what is now called the Narrows , the strait between Staten Island and Long Island that connects the Upper and Lower New York Bay , where he received a canoe party of Lenape. A party of his sailors may have taken on fresh water at a spring called "the watering place" on Staten Island—a monument stands in
8584-532: The 1880s, railway electrification began with tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting in the 1940s, steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives . The first high-speed railway system was introduced in Japan in 1964, and high-speed rail lines now connect many cities in Europe , East Asia , and the eastern United States . Following some decline due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had
8732-510: The 1930s (the famous " 44-tonner " switcher was introduced in 1940) Westinghouse Electric and Baldwin collaborated to build switching locomotives starting in 1929. In 1929, the Canadian National Railways became the first North American railway to use diesels in mainline service with two units, 9000 and 9001, from Westinghouse. Although steam and diesel services reaching speeds up to 200 km/h (120 mph) were started before
8880-484: The 1950s, the New York and Brooklyn commercial port has been almost completely eclipsed by the container ship facility at nearby Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in Newark Bay , which is the largest such port on the Eastern Seaboard . The port has diminished in importance to passenger travel, but the Port Authority operates all three major airports, La Guardia (built 1939) and JFK/Idlewild (built 1948) in New York, and Newark (built 1928) in New Jersey. The harbor
9028-403: The 1960s in Europe, they were not very successful. The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up to and above 300 km/h (190 mph), has been built in Japan, Spain, France , Germany, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China),
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#17328517132449176-413: The 40 km Burgdorf–Thun line , Switzerland. Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than a short section. The 106 km Valtellina line was opened on 4 September 1902, designed by Kandó and a team from the Ganz works. The electrical system was three-phase at 3 kV 15 Hz. In 1918, Kandó invented and developed
9324-462: The Butterley Company in 1790. The first public edgeway (thus also first public railway) built was Lake Lock Rail Road in 1796. Although the primary purpose of the line was to carry coal, it also carried passengers. These two systems of constructing iron railways, the "L" plate-rail and the smooth edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well into the early 19th century. The flanged wheel and edge-rail eventually proved its superiority and became
9472-401: The Culver Line near Hamilton Avenue (the current Gowanus Expressway ) between the Smith-Ninth Streets and Fourth Avenue stations; it was suggested that the Hylan tunnel shafts be used. An application for a $ 47 million loan for this extension was approved by the Board of Estimate in 1937. A revised Second System plan, drawn up in 1939 after the completion of the South Brooklyn line, followed
9620-466: The DC motors of the time and could not be mounted in underfloor bogies : they could only be carried within locomotive bodies. In 1894, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó developed a new type 3-phase asynchronous electric drive motors and generators for electric locomotives. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Évian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898. In 1896, Oerlikon installed
9768-424: The Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity alongside the tubes. These mains were intended to carry water from the main New York City supply to Staten Island. The second route would have originated in Fort Hamilton at the south end of the line. Similar to the 1890 proposal, it would have followed the routing of the current Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (constructed from 1959 to 1964). The Fort Hamilton proposal
9916-471: The German navy's Operation Drumbeat set the top U-boat aces loose against the merchant fleet in U.S. territorial waters in January 1942, starting the Second happy time . The U-boat captains were able to silhouette target ships against the glow of city lights, and attacked with relative impunity, in spite of U.S. naval concentrations within the Harbor. Casualties included the tankers Coimbria off Sandy Hook and Norness off Long Island. New York Harbor, as
10064-556: The LIRR and the other for rapid transit, or two tunnels each with individual tubes for freight and subway service. The freight service would have occurred during off-peak hours only, but simultaneous with subway service, with passenger trains running in 30-minute or one-hour headways during these times. A 1912 proposal had freight running at night between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., while the 1925 plans called for joint freight and passenger service during early mornings (5 a.m. to 6 a.m.), middays (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and overnights (8 p.m. to 5 a.m.). At
10212-457: The Main Line and Wentworth Avenue along the South Beach Branch . This proposal was estimated to cost $ 12 million in the year 1912, with half of it to be paid by railroads, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad (which operated the Long Island Rail Road) and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (which operated the SIRT). A major part of the 1912 proposal was the inclusion of two 40-inch water mains, which were to be side by side and were to be installed by
10360-434: The Manhattan route was considered impractical. Another 5-mile tunnel to Battery Park was proposed by the city in the 1950s, but the plan was scrapped due to a lack of funding. Both of the shorter, Brooklyn proposals would have connected to the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT)'s Fourth Avenue subway , constructed in 1914 during the Dual Contracts. The first route would have originated in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn at
10508-433: The Narrows. The channel of the Hudson as it passes through the harbor is called the Anchorage Channel and is approximately 50 feet deep in the midpoint of the harbor. A project to replace two water mains between Brooklyn and Staten Island, which will eventually allow for dredging of the channel to nearly 100 feet (30 m), was begun in April 2012. The harbor contains several islands including Governors Island , near
10656-599: The New York City Subway. At the time, there were no vehicular or rail connections between Staten Island and the other four boroughs; the only connection was by ferry. Although not funded by the city, the tunnel was expected to help expand the then-sparsely populated borough in a similar manner to the population and development explosions seen in Brooklyn and the Bronx . Under the Dual Contracts, three routes were proposed—two to Brooklyn and one to Manhattan—which would connect
10804-586: The Staten Island Tunnel was also to be referred to by four other names: In 1888, subsequent to building the Arthur Kill swing bridge between New Jersey and northwestern Staten Island, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (the owners of the Staten Island Railway until 1971) proposed a tunnel between Staten Island and Brooklyn. In 1890, Staten Island developer Erastus Wiman , who controlled the railway, sponsored
10952-749: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which opened in 1964 and only carries vehicles. Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport ) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks , which usually consist of two parallel steel rails . Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport , next to road transport . It is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed . Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains . Power
11100-648: The amusement parks in Coney Island , Brooklyn , and the Coney Island Light , and Sandy Hook Lighthouse . The Harbor reached its peak activity in March 1943 during World War II, with 543 ships at anchor awaiting assignment to convoy or berthing (with as many as 426 seagoing vessel already at one of the 750 piers or docks). Eleven hundred warehouses with nearly 1.5 square miles (3.9 km ) of enclosed space served freight along with 575 tugboats and 39 active shipyards ,
11248-475: The attractiveness of the borough for investment. The nearby Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel is being planned to connect northeastern New Jersey and Long Island , with portals in Brooklyn and in Jersey City, New Jersey . The tunnel is being planned as a result of passenger and commuter traffic frequencies being at capacity and precluding freight movements. As early as the 1920s, this tunnel had been planned to cross
11396-517: The best hope for improved transportation between Staten Island and Brooklyn and Manhattan was the reconstruction of the Saint George Terminal, the placing of more and better boats between Staten Island and Manhattan, resumption of 24-hour ferry service between 39th Street in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and the construction of ramps to the Gowanus elevated improvement at 39th Street. More recently,
11544-431: The city. The stoppage was also attributed to the political rivalry between Hylan and Smith, who were both members of Tammany Hall 's Democratic Party . Nonetheless, on October 2, 1925, the 95th Street subway station , which was built mainly in anticipation for the Staten Island Tunnel, was opened. The station was built with a false wall at its south end, intended for either a planned extension to 100th or 101st Streets or
11692-479: The city—the project was halted and the project's engineering staff laid off. Officially, the plan was delayed due to lack of funding, but Hylan and New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) Chairman John Delaney also wanted to secure freight service for the tunnel. The status of the tunnel as mixed-use created tension and deadlock between Hylan, Delaney and the New York State Transit Commission;
11840-510: The commerce of the New York metropolitan area . The Statue of Liberty National Monument recalls the immigrant experience during the late 19th and early 20th century. Since the 1950s, container ship traffic has been primarily routed through the Kill Van Kull to Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal , where it is consolidated for easier automated transfer to land conveyance. As a consequence,
11988-578: The connection to the IND at the current Smith-Ninth Streets station, with the tunnel traveling north from Staten Island through Red Hook and Gowanus . Yet another update, from 1933, was projected to cost $ 45 million, running the original route between Saint George and 67th Street in Bay Ridge. The line would then run on Second Avenue north through the Bay Ridge Flats on Brooklyn's western shore, meeting up with
12136-516: The cost of the southern tunnel route from Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island , to Fort Hamilton would cost upward of $ 75 million, though the tunnel was not officially part of the subway plans and was illustrated as a vehicular tunnel on the map of the plans. Many of the proposals were part of this ambitious expansion plan, which would have connected the tunnel to the IND South Brooklyn Line (today's IND Culver Line). An updated proposal in 1931 had
12284-430: The duty of a guard/train manager/conductor . Passenger trains are part of public transport and often make up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations. Passenger trains provide long-distance intercity travel, daily commuter trips, or local urban transit services, operating with a diversity of vehicles, operating speeds, right-of-way requirements, and service frequency. Service frequencies are often expressed as
12432-525: The east side of the street to facilitate a future express service from Staten Island. The Bay Ridge-based plan was ultimately selected, running between 65th Street/Shore Road in Brooklyn and the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island. The two tubes would have been 10,400 feet (3,200 m) long, longer than any tunnel in the United States at that time. Portions of the Bay Ridge tunnel would be constructed using
12580-402: The end of the 19th century, because they were cleaner compared to steam-driven trams which caused smoke in city streets. In 1784 James Watt , a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, patented a design for a steam locomotive . Watt had improved the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen , hitherto used to pump water out of mines, and developed a reciprocating engine in 1769 capable of powering
12728-467: The end of the 19th century, improving the quality of steel and further reducing costs. Thus steel completely replaced the use of iron in rails, becoming standard for all railways. The first passenger horsecar or tram , Swansea and Mumbles Railway , was opened between Swansea and Mumbles in Wales in 1807. Horses remained the preferable mode for tram transport even after the arrival of steam engines until
12876-515: The engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales . Trevithick later demonstrated a locomotive operating upon
13024-499: The entire New York Harbor rather than just the Narrows. As a precursor to the planned project, which could cost up to $ 11 billion to build, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) compiled a Tier 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in November 2014. The former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) also planned a railroad tunnel, for freight use, between Brooklyn and Staten Island in 1893. The PRR also proposed
13172-470: The era of great expansion of railways that began in the late 1860s. Steel rails lasted several times longer than iron. Steel rails made heavier locomotives possible, allowing for longer trains and improving the productivity of railroads. The Bessemer process introduced nitrogen into the steel, which caused the steel to become brittle with age. The open hearth furnace began to replace the Bessemer process near
13320-558: The existence of the Hudson River. In 1609 Henry Hudson entered the Harbor and explored a stretch of the river that now bears his name. His journey prompted others to explore the region and engage in trade with the local population. The first permanent European settlement was started on Governors Island in 1624, and in Brooklyn eight years after that; soon these were connected by ferry operation. The colonial Dutch Director-General of New Netherland , Peter Stuyvesant , ordered construction of
13468-584: The feasibility of such a crossing. In 1943, the New York City Board of Estimate allocated $ 50,000 toward a feasibility study of the tubes. After World War II ended in 1945, the New York City Planning Commission estimated that construction of the Narrows Tunnel would cost $ 73.5 million. However, by then, La Guardia had turned against the tunnel, saying that "it is not my time" to construct the tunnel. This prompted Robert Moses to propose
13616-551: The first American drydock was completed on the East River. Because of its location and depth, the Port grew rapidly with the introduction of steamships ; and then with the completion in 1825 of the Erie Canal New York became the most important transshipping port between Europe and the interior of the United States, as well as coastwise destinations. By about 1840, more passengers and a greater tonnage of cargo came through
13764-515: The first commercial example of the system on the Lugano Tramway . Each 30-tonne locomotive had two 110 kW (150 hp) motors run by three-phase 750 V 40 Hz fed from double overhead lines. Three-phase motors run at a constant speed and provide regenerative braking , and are well suited to steeply graded routes, and the first main-line three-phase locomotives were supplied by Brown (by then in partnership with Walter Boveri ) in 1899 on
13912-578: The first engineer in chief. By the turn of the 20th century numerous railroad terminals lined the western banks of the North River (Hudson River) in Hudson County, New Jersey , transporting passengers and freight from all over the United States. The freight was ferried across by the competing railroads with small fleets of towboats , barges, and 323 car floats , specially designed barges with rails so cars could be rolled on. New York subsidized this service which undercut rival ports. Major road improvements allowing for trucking and containerization diminished
14060-399: The first time: I have never seen the bay of Naples , I can therefore make no comparison, but my imagination is incapable of conceiving any thing of the kind more beautiful than the harbour of New York. Various and lovely are the objects which meet the eye on every side, but the naming them would only be to give a list of words, without conveying the faintest idea of the scene. I doubt if ever
14208-556: The first wharf on the Manhattan bank of the lower East River sheltered from winds and ice, which was completed late in 1648 and called Schreyers Hook Dock (near what is now Pearl and Broad Streets). This prepared New York as a leading port for the British colonies and then within the newly independent United States . In 1686, the British colonial officials gave the municipality control over
14356-570: The harbor complex in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. A 2019 study of the harbor identifies water quality trends in nine regions of the harbor, using data collected during 1996 to 2017. The Lower New York Bay region has the highest quality, due to frequent exchange of water with the Atlantic Ocean. The poorest regions are those with limited exchange of water flows: Newtown Creek , Flushing Bay and Jamaica Bay . High levels of nutrient pollution (nitrogen and phosphorus) were observed throughout
14504-467: The harbor even at slack tide. Gedney's Channel, as it came to be called, was also shorter than the previous channel, another benefit appreciated by the ship owners and the merchants they sold to. Gedney received the praise of the city, as well as an expensive silver service . In her 1832 book Domestic Manners of the Americans , Fanny Trollope wrote of her impressions upon entering New York Harbor for
14652-520: The highest possible radius. All these features are dramatically different from freight operations, thus justifying exclusive high-speed rail lines if it is economically feasible. New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay and an extremely small portion of the Lower Bay . It is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York/New Jersey Bight near
14800-455: The huge sandbar, which was interrupted in a number of places by channels of fairly shallow depth: 21 feet (6.4 m) at low tide and 33 feet (10 m) at high tide. Because of the difficulty of the navigation required, since 1694, New York had required all ships to be guided into the harbor by an experienced pilot. The new channel Gedney discovered was 2 feet (0.61 m) deeper, enough of an added margin that fully laden ships could come into
14948-463: The largest being Brooklyn Navy Yard . With a large inventory of heavy equipment, this made New York Harbor the busiest in the world. Deterrence and investigation of criminal activity, especially relating to organized crime, is the responsibility of the bi-state Waterfront Commission . The commission was set up in 1953 (a year before the movie On the Waterfront ), to combat labor racketeering . It
15096-489: The latter emphasized passenger service for the tunnel. After an investigation issued by Governor Al Smith , planners eliminated freight service from the plan, as per the Nicoll-Hofstadter Act signed into law by the governor; this then led to lack of interest from contractors. With the tunnel now designated exclusively for subway service, Mayor Hylan, a former Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) employee who
15244-1218: The limit being regarded at 200 to 350 kilometres per hour (120 to 220 mph). High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haul service and most systems are in Western Europe and East Asia. Magnetic levitation trains such as the Shanghai maglev train use under-riding magnets which attract themselves upward towards the underside of a guideway and this line has achieved somewhat higher peak speeds in day-to-day operation than conventional high-speed railways, although only over short distances. Due to their heightened speeds, route alignments for high-speed rail tend to have broader curves than conventional railways, but may have steeper grades that are more easily climbed by trains with large kinetic energy. High kinetic energy translates to higher horsepower-to-ton ratios (e.g. 20 horsepower per short ton or 16 kilowatts per tonne); this allows trains to accelerate and maintain higher speeds and negotiate steep grades as momentum builds up and recovered in downgrades (reducing cut and fill and tunnelling requirements). Since lateral forces act on curves, curvatures are designed with
15392-429: The locomotive-hauled train's drawbacks to be removed, since the locomotive need not be moved to the front of the train each time the train changes direction. A railroad car is a vehicle used for the haulage of either passengers or freight. A multiple unit has powered wheels throughout the whole train. These are used for rapid transit and tram systems, as well as many both short- and long-haul passenger trains. A railcar
15540-560: The main portion of the B&;O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. By the early 1900s most street railways were electrified. The London Underground , the world's oldest underground railway, opened in 1863, and it began operating electric services using
15688-579: The major convoy embarkation point for the U.S., was effectively a staging area in the Battle of the Atlantic , with the U.S. Merchant Marine losses of 1 of 26 mariners, a rate exceeding those of the other U.S. forces. Bright city lights made it easier for German U-boats to spot targets at night, but local officials resisted suggestions that they follow London 's lead and blackout the lights of coastal cities. However, some lights were darkened, including those of
15836-433: The mid-1920s. The Soviet Union operated three experimental units of different designs since late 1925, though only one of them (the E el-2 ) proved technically viable. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp , a General Electric electrical engineer, developed and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system (subsequent improvements were also patented by Lemp). Lemp's design used
15984-525: The mouth of the East River, as well Ellis Island , Liberty Island , and Robbins Reef which are supported by a large underwater reef on the New Jersey side of the harbor. The reef was historically one of the largest oyster beds in the world and provided a staple for the diet of all classes of citizens both locally and regionally until the end of the 19th century, when the beds succumbed to pollution. Historically, it has played an extremely important role in
16132-427: The nearby main port of entry at Ellis Island processed 12 million arrivals from 1892 to 1954. The Statue of Liberty National Monument , encompassing both islands, recalls the period of massive immigration to the United States at the turn of the 20th century While many stayed in the region, others spread across America, with more than 10 million leaving from the nearby Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal . After
16280-496: The need. The harbor saw major federal investment at the end of the century when Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 . Over $ 1.2 million of initial funding was appropriated for the dredging of 40-foot-deep (12.2 m) channels at Bay Ridge , Red Hook , and Sandy Hook . The Statue of Liberty ( Liberty Enlightening the World ) stands on Liberty Island in the harbor, while
16428-412: The noise they made on the tracks. There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck , Cumbria , England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot , near Liverpool , sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to
16576-530: The original Bay Ridge plan, and would have also extended the IND down Fort Hamilton Parkway and/or 10th Avenue to meet up with the tunnel route. The IND connection would be located at either the Fort Hamilton Parkway station (where the express tracks of the line run on a separate level) or the Church Avenue express station, the former terminus of the line. The Church Avenue connection would have utilized
16724-411: The pencil of Turner could do it justice, bright and glorious as it rose upon us. We seemed to enter the harbour of New York upon waves of liquid gold, and as we darted past the green isles which rise from its bosom, like guardian centinels of the fair city, the setting sun stretched his horizontal beams farther and farther at each moment, as if to point out to us some new glory in the landscape. In 1824
16872-571: The port of New York than all other major harbors in the country combined and by 1900 it was one of the great international ports. The Morris Canal carried anthracite and freight from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to its terminus at the mouth of the Hudson in Jersey City . Portions in the harbor are now part of Liberty State Park . In 1870, the city established the Department of Docks to systematize waterfront development, with George B. McClellan as
17020-513: The possibility of a smaller engine that might be used to power a vehicle. Following his patent, Watt's employee William Murdoch produced a working model of a self-propelled steam carriage in that year. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick , a British engineer born in Cornwall . This used high-pressure steam to drive
17168-492: The southernmost tip of Manhattan near Battery Park ( South Ferry ) and St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace in Staten Island near Richmond County Borough Hall and Richmond County Supreme Court. NY Waterway operates routes across the bay and through The Narrows to locations near Sandy Hook . The harbor supports a very diverse population of marine species, allowing for recreational fishing, most commonly for striped bass and bluefish. The original population of
17316-441: The standard for railways. Cast iron used in rails proved unsatisfactory because it was brittle and broke under heavy loads. The wrought iron invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820 replaced cast iron. Wrought iron, usually simply referred to as "iron", was a ductile material that could undergo considerable deformation before breaking, making it more suitable for iron rails. But iron was expensive to produce until Henry Cort patented
17464-545: The subway system's Fourth Avenue Line, even though the Transit Commission refused to be involved with the plans. Since the plan would benefit the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Pennsylvania Railroad opposed it, and the railroad, cooperating with the Port Authority, proposed a tunnel from Brooklyn to Greenville, New Jersey, with a spur to Staten Island. The situation become complicated, as the Port Authority plan
17612-515: The subway to Staten Island is built—… some Doubting Thomases of New Yorkers who don't buy will be shedding tears at their lack of foresight." The plan resurfaced in 1929, when meetings took place between Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague and officials from New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker 's office. This plan proposed a subway line running along the SIRT North Shore Branch and John F. Kennedy Boulevard in New Jersey, before connecting with
17760-475: The time of the tunnel's groundbreaking, Jamaica Bay and the Paerdegat Basin were slated to become industrial complexes, which would have been facilitated by freight service from the tunnel. The tunnel plan was amended in 1919. In April 1921, a bill was passed in the state senate requiring the city to begin construction of the 24-foot-wide (7.3 m) tunnel within two years. In May 1922, John Hylan launched
17908-470: The time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway , built in 1830. Steam power continued to be the dominant power system in railways around the world for more than a century. The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery-electric locomotive. Davidson later built
18056-536: The track. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most trains carry a revenue load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railway's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. The engine driver (engineer in North America) controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are under automatic control. Traditionally, trains are pulled using
18204-466: The transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica . This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from
18352-554: The tunnel have come from New York City Councilman Lewis A. Fidler , who in 2007 proposed a one-third of one percent tax for the tri-state region to pay for the construction. The tunnel was one of several projects that could have competed for $ 3 billion of federal funds that were to have been allocated to the ARC tunnel , which was canceled by New Jersey governor Chris Christie in October 2010. State Senator Diane Savino , whose district includes parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn, supported such
18500-475: The tunnel in Brooklyn to the Long Island freight belt line, to the B&O freight sidings on Staten Island, and to the new city piers on Staten Island would have all been built. The project was projected to cost $ 60 million and if the job was done quickly, it could have been done by 1929. The route would help develop the waterfront areas in Staten Island and Jamaica Bay. Provisions would be made for connections with
18648-493: The tunnel site south of the 59th Street Station. An additional portal was built in the SIRT tunnel between St. George Terminal and Tompkinsville to facilitate the northern wye from the tunnel to the North Shore Branch . As a provision for the southern route, the Fourth Avenue line south of 59th Street (built with only two tracks) was placed on the west side of Fourth Avenue, which would allow two additional tracks to be added on
18796-495: The tunnel, including the 1939 plans for the Independent Subway System 's ambitious Second System , were never funded. Modern proposals for completion of the tunnel have come from New York City Councilman Lewis Fidler , who in 2007 proposed a 0.33% tax for the tri-state region to pay for the construction. The tunnel was listed as one of many projects that could receive federal funds that were to have been allocated to
18944-479: The various harbor regions, although there has been a general lowering trend in total nitrogen, and some other indicator parameters show improvements. The implementation of the Clean Water Act and related pollution control laws, along with cleanup programs and conservation measures throughout the region, have begun to yield some improvements since the 1970s. The study authors state that "the New York Harbor ecosystem
19092-531: The war, the 1919 New York City Harbor Strike by the Marine Workers Union shut down the port for weeks. It started on January 9 and was paused on January 13 for arbitration. The strike resumed March 4 after workers rejected the War Board labor ruling and ended on April 20, 1919 after new terms had been offered by both public and private port employers. After the United States entered World War II ,
19240-518: The waterfront industries of the Harbor experienced a decline leading to diverse plans for revitalization, though important maritime uses remain at Red Hook , Port Jersey , MOTBY , Constable Hook , and parts of the Staten Island shore. Liberty State Park opened in 1976. In recent years, it has become a popular site for recreation sailing and kayaking . The harbor is traversed by the Staten Island Ferry , which runs between Whitehall Street at
19388-632: The waterfront. In 1835, Lieutenant Thomas Gedney of the Survey of the Coast (renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836 and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878) discovered a new, deeper channel through the Narrows into New York Harbor. Previously, the passage was complex and shallow enough that loaded ships would wait outside the harbor until high tide, to avoid running into
19536-609: The wheels on track. For example, evidence indicates that a 6 to 8.5 km long Diolkos paved trackway transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt . In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug ,
19684-545: The world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive Rocket , which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all
19832-461: The world's longest at the time of its planning, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Construction began in 1923, and the tunnel was excavated 150 feet (46 m) into the Narrows before New York City Mayor John Hylan , a former Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) employee and initial proponent of the tunnel, canceled the project in 1925. The tunnel lies dormant under Owl's Head Park in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn . Later proposals to complete
19980-547: Was a known opponent of both the BMT and the IRT , supposedly stopped the project as part of an overall effort to cripple the two private subway companies and promote the plans for the city-operated Independent Subway System (IND). It was also reported that Governor Smith, who had a financial stake in the Pennsylvania Railroad company, tried to stall the project in order to prevent the expansion of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad operations farther into
20128-499: Was a single-tube tunnel with accommodations for electric units only. The Greenville–Brooklyn tunnel would be about $ 331 million, which was cheaper than the approximately $ 405 million tunnel from Staten Island to Brooklyn. In 1912, Wood, Harmon & Co proposed a new subway from Bayonne, New Jersey , to Staten Island. This was called the Boulevard Subway . In their advertisements, the company stated, "Five or ten years from now—when
20276-507: Was a soft material that contained slag or dross . The softness and dross tended to make iron rails distort and delaminate and they lasted less than 10 years. Sometimes they lasted as little as one year under high traffic. All these developments in the production of iron eventually led to the replacement of composite wood/iron rails with superior all-iron rails. The introduction of the Bessemer process , enabling steel to be made inexpensively, led to
20424-585: Was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, and is the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814, George Stephenson , inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played
20572-678: Was approved by the State Legislatures in both New Jersey and New York. In addition, the Transit Commission proposed its own subway tunnel branching from the Fourth Avenue Line to be operated as part of the city's subway system. A groundbreaking ceremony was held by New York City Mayor John Hylan on April 14, 1923 in Bay Ridge and in Staten Island on July 19. Headings were dug and tunneling shafts were sunk at 68th Street and Shore Road in Brooklyn (the Shore Road Shaft), and underneath
20720-509: Was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 volts DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station . The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton , England. The railway is still operational, thus making it the oldest operational electric railway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria. It
20868-687: Was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in Lewiston, New York . In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of the wooden rails. This allowed a variation of gauge to be used. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use that allowed for switching. A system
21016-507: Was delayed indefinitely due to a lack of money. The construction work did not go beyond an examination of shoreline on the Brooklyn side. In 1936, the plan for a vehicular tunnel under the Narrows was brought up again when Mayor La Guardia gained authorization to petition Congress for a bridge across the strait. LaGuardia preferred a tunnel instead, and so the next year he requested the New York City Tunnel Authority to review
21164-535: Was introduced in which unflanged wheels ran on L-shaped metal plates, which came to be known as plateways . John Curr , a Sheffield colliery manager, invented this flanged rail in 1787, though the exact date of this is disputed. The plate rail was taken up by Benjamin Outram for wagonways serving his canals, manufacturing them at his Butterley ironworks . In 1803, William Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway ,
21312-479: Was light enough to not break the edge-rails track and solved the problem of adhesion by a cog-wheel using teeth cast on the side of one of the rails. Thus it was also the first rack railway . This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This
21460-742: Was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security. By the middle of the nineteenth century most european countries had military uses for railways. Werner von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway , opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin , Germany, in 1881. It
21608-423: Was the first tram line in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years later, in the U.S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway , using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague . The first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile section of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1895 connecting
21756-438: Was the shortest route of the two, though it would require tunneling through deeper waters. As part of the proposal, it was suggested that the Fourth Avenue Line be extended past its original terminal at 86th Street in Bay Ridge to a temporary ferry terminal at 95th Street (now the 95th Street Station ). In anticipation of the northern tunnel route, trackways were constructed diverging from both Fourth Avenue local tracks towards
21904-465: Was to be transferred to Dubai Ports World . There was considerable security controversy over the ownership by a foreign corporation, particularly Arabic, of a U.S. port operation, this in spite of the fact the current operator was the British-based P&O Ports , and the fact that Orient Overseas Investment Limited , a company dominated by a Chinese Communist official, has the operating contract for Howland Hook Marine Terminal . An additional concern
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