Editing New York Tunnel Extension (section)

===Early tunnel and bridge proposals===
Various plans to build a physical link across the Hudson River were discussed as early as the 1870s, and both tunnel and bridge projects were considered by the railroads and government officials.<ref name="Scientific American 1910">{{cite journal |title=Opening of the Pennsylvania Terminal Station in New York |journal=Scientific American |date=1910-09-10 |volume=103 |issue=11 |pages=200–201 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican09101910-200 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951001389797u&view=image&seq=208 |access-date=2020-02-29|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|200}}  A tunnel project for the [[Hudson and Manhattan Railroad]] (H&M), a [[rapid transit]] line, began in 1874, and encountered serious engineering, financial and legal obstacles. The project was halted in 1880 after a blowout accident that cost 20 lives.<ref>{{cite book| last=Burr| first=S.D.V.| title=Tunneling Under The Hudson River: Being a description of the obstacles encountered, the experience gained, the success achieved, and the plans finally adopted for rapid and economical prosecution of the work | publisher=John Wiley and Sons| year=1885| location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56pDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA24| page=24 ff}}</ref> (Work on the H&M tunneling project, later known as the [[Uptown Hudson Tubes]], continued intermittently but was not completed until 1906;<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1907/05/26/archives/under-the-hudson-river-by-tunnel-about-to-become-a-reality-october.html|title=Under the Hudson River by Tunnel About to Become a Reality; October 1 Will See the End of a Romance of Thirty-four Years' Struggle of Capital and Brains Against the Seemingly Insurmountable Obstacles of Nature.|date=May 26, 1907|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> it was opened to passenger trains in 1908.<ref>{{cite web | title=TROLLEY TUNNEL OPEN TO JERSEY; President Turns On Power for First Official Train Between This City and Hoboken. REGULAR SERVICE STARTS Passenger Trains Between the Two Cities Begin Running at Midnight. EXERCISES OVER THE RIVER Govs. Hughes and Fort Make Congratulatory Addresses -- Dinner at Sherry's in the Evening. | website=The New York Times | date=February 26, 1908 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/02/26/archives/trolley-tunnel-open-to-jersey-president-turns-on-power-for-first.html | access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>)

The technology of tunnel-building was still primitive and risky in the 1880s, and this gave impetus to a major bridge design proposal promoted by engineer [[Gustav Lindenthal]].<ref name="Jonnes">{{cite book |title=Conquering Gotham - A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and its Tunnels |last=Jonnes |first=Jill |year=2007 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0-670-03158-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/conqueringgotham00jonn |url-access=registration }}</ref>{{rp|20}}<ref name="Scientific American 1910"/>{{rp|200}} The bridge would be situated between [[Hoboken, New Jersey]] and 23rd Street in Manhattan. However, due to the congested shipping conditions in [[New York Harbor]], the design called for an enormous bridge span that would have been twice that of the [[Brooklyn Bridge]]. At one point, plans for the bridge called for it to carry 14 tracks.<ref name="Cudahy"/>{{rp|29}} Although [[United States Congress|Congress]] granted Lindenthal's company a charter in 1890 for construction of a bridge, the huge $27 million project cost would have to be shared by several railroads.<ref name="Couper">{{cite book | title=History of the Engineering Construction and Equipment of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's New York Terminal and Approaches |last=Couper |first=William. |year=1912 |publisher=Isaac H. Blanchard Co. |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyengineer00unkngoog/page/n30 7]–16 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyengineer00unkngoog }}</ref> The [[Panic of 1893]] made large capital investments nearly impossible for some time, as one third of the nation's railroads failed.<ref name="Jonnes" />{{rp|20}}<ref name="Scientific American 1910"/>{{rp|200}} Some foundation masonry was laid on the Hoboken side in 1895, but the PRR was unsuccessful in getting other companies to share in the expenses, and the bridge project was abandoned.<ref name="Couper" />