Very Rapid Transit

In a slight restructuring of the city’s rail routes, Penn Station assumes all train traffic from the suburban New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester and Connecticut corridors, as well as points farther north, south, east and west. (The realignment leaves Grand Central with a lone shuttle train, which runs between Midtown Manhattan and Scarsdale.) To accommodate the new lines, the number of tracks employed by Penn Station will contract to a half dozen. Subsequently, the station’s departure board will release all track information 45 seconds before a train’s departure — ample time for the fleet-footed to locate and board their trains with minimal shoving.