The larger part of the electrification of the Long Island Railroad and the elimination of grade crossings within the built-up city limits, the Atlantic Avenue improvement, and the yard and piers at Greenville, have been completed. The Sunnyside Yard and the Glendale Cut-Off will be completed during the next twelve months. On the Tunnel and Terminal Railroad the embankment and bridge work across the Hackensack Meadows and all the tunnels and excavation from the west side of Bergen Hill to Long Island City, except a short section near the eastern end of the line, have been completed. The New York station and other buildings and facilities connected therewith are well advanced. The laying of the track, the electrification of the line, and the installation of the signaling and lighting systems are under way. It is anticipated that the line will be ready for operation in the spring of 1910.
Report has been made to the Public Service Commission that a large part of the right of way for the New York Connecting Railroad has been obtained, and more than $3,000,000 has been spent by this railroad. The piers and docks at Newtown Creek and the electrification of the line from Newark to Jersey City are not yet actively under way.
Estimated Cost of the Improvements.
As appears from the foregoing statement, only parts of the improvements contemplated in the general scheme have been completed, others are in progress, and others have not yet been commenced. It is therefore impossible at the present time to make a close estimate of the total expenditure involved in the execution of the entire scheme. The following estimate of the cost of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's improvements in the New York District when fully completed is based on the best information now available:
| New York Tunnel Extension and Station, including Interchange Yards at Harrison, N. J., and Sunnyside, L. I., P. T. & T. R. R. Co. | $100,000,000 |
| Long Island Railroad electrification, Bay Ridge and Atlantic Avenue improvements, Glendale Cut-Off, freight yards, and new equipment | 35,000,000 |
| New York Connecting Railroad, to be built jointly by the Pennsylvania R. R. Co. and the New York, New Haven and Hartford R. R. Co., about | 14,000,000 |
| Pennsylvania Railroad improvements in the State of New Jersey, electrification of line from Jersey City to Park Place, Newark, Greenville freight line and terminal on New York Bay | 10,000,000 |
| Total | $159,000,000 |
Corporate Organization and Franchise Conditions.
As the tunnel extension lies partly in the State of New Jersey and partly in the State of New York, it was necessary to charter two companies, each covering the territory within the State to which it belonged. The New Jersey corporation was entitled the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York Railroad Company, and the New York corporation, the Pennsylvania, New York and Long Island Railroad Company. These organizations were completed early in 1902. Subsequently, after the tunnels had been joined under the North River, the companies were consolidated, on June 26th, 1907, and thereby formed the present company under the name of the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad Company, a corporation of both States.
Mr. Cassatt, President of the Pennsylvania, New York and Long Island Railroad Company, made application in its behalf for a franchise to extend the lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad by tunnels under the North River to a passenger station to be erected in New York City and thence under the East River to a connection with the Long Island Railroad, on May 5th, 1902.
The franchise for that part of the tunnel line which is within the State of New York, that is, from the boundary line between New York and New Jersey, in the Hudson River, to the eastern terminus at Sunnyside Yard, Long Island, is contained in the certificate issued by the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners of the City of New York on October 9th, 1902.
The essential features of the franchise have been summarized substantially as follows in the report of the Committee of the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners of the City of New York, dated June 14th, 1902: