The Century Old Idea that Can Revolutionize NYC Commuter Rail

Special thanks to Liam Blank, Blair Lorenzo, and Khyber Sen for making this video possible.

Also special thanks to Jeffrey for coming up with certain points in this video, and allowing me to use those in this video.

In this video, we will explain through running at Penn Station, and what the real obstacle to that is. We will also explain the future of through running now that the Penn Station Reconstruction Project has been federalized.

All Major Documents

1926 North Jersey Transit Commission Report
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record...

1958 Metropolitan Transit District Compact
  / historic_doc_rediscovered_the_1958_nynj  
https://liamblank.com/wp-content/uplo...

Effective Transit Alliance General Through Running Report
https://static1.squarespace.com/stati...

Effective Transit Alliance Vertical Circulation Report
https://www.etany.org/penn-station-ca...

Janno Lieber Through Running Comments
https://www.wnyc.org/story/mta-chair-...

Amtrak's Reports
https://web.archive.org/web/202410022...
https://www.irum.org/20140807_Amtrak_...

All Other Sources
https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org...

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexpe...

https://www.businessinsider.com/photo...

https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/07/2...

https://www.nytimes.com/1958/12/09/ar...

https://pedestrianobservations.com/20...

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/time...

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/ny...

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/ny...

Music
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Music: Crime is Everywhere by Soundridemusic
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Pictures
https://pastebin.com/hc2aQS1k

Basic Cost Estimations
M8/M10 Order
M8s costs $706.3 million in 2006 dollars for 380 cars.
https://web.archive.org/web/202201311...
M8s would cost $1.15 billion in 2025 dollars.
Round to $1.5 billion, given we need more than 380 railcars, but probably not much more.

Penn Station Reconstruction
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/ny...

$7 billion

High Platforms
Plauderville: https://www.nj.gov/transportation/cap...
$15 million 2009 dollars is about $22 million 2024 dollars
109 low level stations would cost around $2.4 billion

Track Renewal
A Hypothesis on How much it would cost to eliminate Slow Zones in NJ and CT

$1 billion

Grade Separation
Shell and Hunter Flyovers are similar and Shell would cost $300 million, according to ETA
That means Hunter would be also $300 million (for simplicity)
Mid Line Loop (Jersey Ave): $511 million
https://static1.squarespace.com/stati...

Total would be $1.2 billion

Yards
20 Years Needs Assessment
https://future.mta.info/documents/20-...
Inner New Haven: $390 million
Midpoint Yard: $360 million
Total would be $750 million

Build Queenslink and Stop Queensway Petition
https://thequeenslink.org/get-involve...