Currently, as the U.S. is once again embarking on a major
passenger railroad building era, it is especially timely to look
back 100 years to the opening of New York Pennsylvania Station
in the fall of 1910. The impressive station, built in the
Romanesque style, was just one element of the PRR’s “New York
Improvement and Tunnel Extension” project. Although the project
name was modest, it was indeed a monumental endeavor. The
project involved two single-track tunnels under the Hudson River
(North River) and Bergen Hill in New Jersey, the 21-track Penn
Station, tunnels for four tracks under the streets of Manhattan
and the East River, the Sunnyside Yard complex in Queens, new
electric rolling stock, low-voltage d.c. third-rail
electrification, and the Manhattan Transfer Station in New
Jersey, where steam and electric locomotives interchanged.
Construction was initiated in 1903, and just seven years later
the massive Penn Station complex was opened in phases. On
Thursday, Sept. 8, 1910, the Long Island Rail Road