Editing New York Tunnel Extension (section)

==Design and construction==
[[File:Western portal North River Tunnels.jpg|thumb|The Meadows Division and the North River Division met at the west side of the Palisades]]

The design and construction aspects of the project were organized into three principal divisions: the Meadows, North River, and East River divisions.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Keys |first=C. M. |date=July 1910 |title=Cassatt And His Vision: Half A Billion Dollars Spent In Ten Years To Improve A Single Railroad - The End Of A Forty-Year Effort To Cross The Hudson |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=XX |pages=13187–13204 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HsrkfU461xAC&pg=PA13187|access-date=July 10, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news    | title = Nearly Twenty Miles Through Tubes and Tunnels   | newspaper = New York Times   | date = November 9, 1908   | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/11/08/104812491.pdf   | access-date = February 27, 2011}}</ref> As of 2021, there are revived plans to renovate and expand the Meadows and North River divisions as part of the [[Gateway Program (Northeast Corridor)|Gateway Program]].

===Meadows Division===
The original PRR route in New Jersey ran to the [[Exchange Place (PRR station)|Exchange Place]] [[ferry terminal]] in Jersey City.  The Meadows Division project built a new, approximately {{convert|5|mi|km|adj=on}} route from the PRR main line at [[Harrison, New Jersey]], northeast to the west end of the new tunnels. This involved constructing a new station at Harrison, [[Manhattan Transfer station|Manhattan Transfer]], along with a [[rail yard]], to provide for changing between steam and electric locomotives. Northeast from this new station the [[double track]] line was built. It crossed over the [[Hudson and Manhattan Railroad]] and [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad]] on the [[Sawtooth Bridges]]; the [[Hackensack River]] on the [[Portal Bridge]]; and on embankment through the [[Hackensack Meadowlands]] to the west portal of the tunnels under [[Bergen Hill]] in the [[The Palisades (Hudson River)|Palisades]].<ref name="Raymond">{{cite journal |last1=Raymond |first1=Charles W. |date=September 1910 |title= The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. |journal=Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=1–31 |doi=10.1061/TACEAT.0002217 |url= http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18229/18229-h/18229-h.htm |url-access=subscription }} Paper No. 1150.</ref><ref name="Cudahy"/>{{rp|29}}

===North River Division===
The North River Division ran from the west portal of the tunnels to Manhattan. The PRR ultimately decided to build a pair of [[Single track (rail)|single-track]] tunnels under the river, called the [[North River Tunnels]], between [[Weehawken, New Jersey|Weehawken]] and midtown Manhattan; the two tunnels continued seamlessly west from Weehawken to the west portals.<ref name="Scientific American 1910"/>{{rp|200}}<ref name="Cudahy"/>{{rp|29}} In later years "North River Tunnels" came to refer to the whole length of tunnel from the western portal in [[North Bergen, New Jersey|North Bergen]] to 10th Avenue in Manhattan.  The two tracks fan out to 21 tracks just west of Penn Station.<ref name="Mills 1908"/><ref name="Scientific American 1910b">{{cite journal | title=Completion of the Pennsylvania Tunnels and Terminal Station |journal=Scientific American | publisher=Munn & Company | series=Library of American civilization | issue=v. 102 | date=May 14, 1910 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xoE3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA399 | access-date=May 24, 2018 }}</ref>{{rp|399}}<ref name="Cudahy"/>{{rp|76}}

Construction on the North River tunnels began in 1904 under the supervision of O'Rourke Engineering and Construction Company.<ref name="NYTimes-TunnelBuilders-1904">{{cite web | title=O'ROURKE WILL BUILD PENNSYLVANIA TUNNEL; New York Firm Gets Contract for North River Section. BRITISH TO BORE OTHER TUBE S. Pearson & Son, Limited, of London, the Successful Bidders for Work Under the East River. | website=The New York Times | date=March 12, 1904 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1904/03/12/archives/orourke-will-build-pennsylvania-tunnel-new-york-firm-gets-contract.html | access-date=May 23, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Cudahy"/>{{rp|33}} Boring operations were completed on October 9, 1906.<ref>{{cite web | title=THE PENNSYLVANIA OPENS ITS SECOND RIVER TUBE; A Real Experience Tramping Through the Bores. HEADINGS MEET EXACTLY Brief Ceremonies as the Engineers Pass the Shield of the New North River Section. THE PENNSYLVANIA OPENS ITS SECOND RIVER TUBE | website=The New York Times | date=October 10, 1906 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1906/10/10/archives/the-pennsylvania-opens-its-second-river-tube-a-real-experience.html | access-date=May 23, 2018}}</ref> Service from New Jersey to Manhattan began on November 27, 1910, once Penn Station was completed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/11/27/archives/pennsylvania-opens-its-great-station-first-regular-train-sent.html|title=PENNSYLVANIA OPENS ITS GREAT STATION; First Regular Train Sent Through the Hudson River Tunnel at Midnight.|date=November 27, 1910|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 23, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===East River Division===
The East River Division managed construction of tunnels running across Manhattan, and under the East River to [[Queens]]. The [[East River Tunnels]] are four single-track tunnels that extend from the eastern end of Pennsylvania Station and cross the East River.<ref name="Cudahy"/>{{rp|29}} East of the station, tracks 5&ndash;21 merge into two 3-track tunnels, which then merge into the East River Tunnels' four tracks. The tunnels end and the tracks rise to ground level east of the Queens shoreline.<ref name="Mills 1908"/> The tunnels connect to [[Sunnyside Yard]], a large {{convert|75|acre|ha|adj=on}} [[coach yard]] that could hold up to 1,550 train carriages. Construction proceeded concurrently with the North River tunnels.<ref name="Schafer" /><ref name="Scientific American 1910"/>{{rp|201}}<ref name="Cudahy"/>{{rp|20}}

The tunnels were built by [[S. Pearson and Son]], the same company who had built the Uptown Hudson Tubes.<ref name="NYTimes-TunnelBuilders-1904"/><ref name="Cudahy"/>{{rp|33}} The tunnel technology was so innovative that in 1907 the PRR shipped an actual {{convert|23|ft|m|adj=on}} diameter section of the new East River Tunnels to the [[Jamestown Exposition]] in [[Norfolk, Virginia]], to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the nearby founding of the colony at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Industrial Magazine | publisher=Geo. S. Mackintosh | issue=v. 7, no. 2 | year=1907 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yoAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA79 | access-date=May 23, 2018 | page=79}}</ref> The same tube, with an inscription indicating that it had been displayed at the Exposition, was later installed under water and remains in use. Construction was completed on the East River tunnels on March 18, 1908.<ref>{{cite web |title=FOURTH RIVER TUBE THROUGH; Last of Pennsylvania-Long Island Tunnels Connected -- Sandhogs Celebrate. | website=The New York Times | date=March 19, 1908 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/03/19/archives/fourth-river-tube-through-last-of-pennsylvanialong-island-tunnels.html | access-date=May 23, 2018}}</ref> LIRR service to Penn Station began on September 8, 1910.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/09/09/archives/day-long-throng-inspects-new-tube-35000-persons-were-carried-on-the.html|title=DAY LONG THRONG INSPECTS NEW TUBE; 35,000 Persons Were Carried on the First Day of Pennsylvania's Tunnel Service. ACCIDENT MARRED OPENING Morning Trains Delayed Two Hours by Broken Third Rail -- Some Complaints Over Extra Fare.|date=September 9, 1910|website=The New York Times|access-date=May 22, 2018}}</ref>

[[File:PCPOST HudsonRiverTubes Diagram.png|thumb|center|600px|A diagram showing how [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] tracks reached [[Manhattan]]|alt=A diagram of the tunnels, stating: "How Pennsylvania Railroad tracks reached Manhattan.  The underwater sections, usually called tunnels, are really tubes suspended in silt."]]