As the East Side Access project inches toward completion, one of the tunnel boring machines digging out the tubes in Manhattan has spun its last cutter head, and it won’t be coming up for air. The Spanish contract that owns Seli, the TBM that has been cutting through Manhattan schist since 2007, has decided to abandon the TBM 14 stories beneath Park Avenue. It would, simply put, cost more than the TBM is worth to pull it back out into Sunnyside, dismantle it and sell it for scrap, and so the nether reaches of Manhattan will be its final resting place.
Its exact resting place appears to be at around Park Ave. between 37th and 38th Streets, and the MTA and its contractors will use the laid-to-rest TBM for tunnel support. Later this week, it will be encased in concrete, and the 22.5-foot-long drill will be marked with a plaque only. As The Times notes, the decision evokes images of Planet of the Apes, and while other countries have buried TBMs, this is a first for New York. There is, of course, no room to do the same along Second Ave. or the 7 Line extension. “People will find it, and they will find it exciting to see it, if they ever unearth it,” Michael Horodniceanu, head of MTA Capital Construction, said. “Who knows? Maybe they will want to continue the railroad south, at which point they would have to take it out.”
23 comments
That actually is pretty cool. This will no doubt become a lil piece of NYC trivia that most will never know.
It’d be cool if it could be kept in such a state that they can just continue digging it (won’t encasing it in concrete sort of make it unusable?)
June 1, 3011: MTA Abandons Plans To Connect Grand Central to Penn Station
Massive unknown structure in path of proposed tunnel
Hilarious! But seriously–if they’re that close, why not just dig three more blocks & connect already???
Don’t worry. The fusion powered laser boring device will probably be able to chew through an old school TBM in minutes.
Don’t worry, it’d only stand in the way of a connection to the ESA cavern. A connection to the subsurface Grand Central, i.e. the useful kind, would not be jeopardized.
As long as we leave a nuke on it so we can pray to it when the Planet of the Apes comes to fruition, I’m cool with this.
“Maybe they will want to continue the railroad south…”
Hmmmm. Maybe.
Seems a little stupid to block the path of a future expansion like this. It’s like a Robert Mosesism, only stupid instead of malicious.
Future engineer shakes fist at monolothic TBM blocking his tunnel’s path: “You maniacs!!!”
At 14 stories deep, I would think it’s much deeper than any future rail tunnel is likely to be…
That doesn’t mean the line can’t continue south. Not that the depth is a good idea.
Well, you have the lexington Avenue line going south, and plus the Second Avenue subway is supposed to go South one day. So why does the LIRR need to go south? There is no need………
Didn’t the H&M leave a tunnel shield in the cut just east of Ninth Street that was to be the bellmouth for the proposed spur to Astor Place?
Did they even TRY to sell it on ebay?
Encasing it in concrete might be the stupidest idea I have ever heard. It’s already beneath the Lex, why not leave it there with the goal of eventually gaining funding to go south to 30/31 St, turning west and hitting Penn (or continuing south via Lex ROW to Astor Place, then via Bowery/Park Row to the Financial District….or both!)
Because why would it need to hit Penn Station? The LIRR already goes there, and the Metro North can be made to go Penn Station by using the Amtrack tracks on the West Side of Manhattan.
Because they bought it used and it’s such a piece of crap machine to begin with and has 1/4 production of the other tbm.
So a TBM must be pretty toasted by the time it’s done that much digging, right? Otherwise it seems like it’d be worth selling it to someone else who’s doing some tunneling (e.g. San Francisco). Do they build TBMs with a set distance in mind (i.e. so they can’t dig much more after they reach their goal)?
I do like that continuing the tunnel south idea…. like to Staten Island.
A train from St. George (or even better- further inland on the island) with stops at the Fulton Transit Center; Union Square, and then on to GCT.
Sounds good to me. Anyone have $20-25 billion lying around?
Yes–the Chinese government apparently.
Sadly, that is true.
Jan 3rd, 3011
“Ok, let’s fire her up!”
(flips switch)
“Great it still works!”