Park Avenue Tunnel (railroad) The Park Avenue Tunnel connects
four tracks of the Metro-North Railroad from Grand Central
Terminal at 42nd Street to 97th Street in the New York City
borough of Manhattan. The tunnel portal rises to a full viaduct
by 99th Street. The New York and Harlem Railroad first opened a
horsecar line on this route to Harlem station at 125th Street in
1837. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad lowered the
tracks into a tunnel from 59th Street to 96th Street during 1872
to 1876, concurrent with the construction of Grand Central
Depot. However, as train traffic to Grand Central increased
dramatically to the end of the 19th century, the operation of
steam locomotives in the tunnel resulted in both an extremely
unpleasant experience for riders and a dangerously low level of
visibility for train engineers.:189 On the morning of January 8,
1902, an express train from White Plains missed a number of
signals in the tunnel and plowed into a stopped train waiting to
enter Grand Central, ki