Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 36, 2013

The 7 Subway Extension — Hudson Yards Rezoning and Development Program is the plan to extend the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway, which carries the local and  express services, westward from its current terminus at Times Square, and adding a new station at 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue. A second station at 10th Avenue – 41st Street was dropped from the plans in October 2007, but could be restored if funding can be found. The extension's opening has been shortly delayed to June 2014, while the rest of the 34th Street station will be opened at the end of 2015. The extension is a key part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, and is expected to bring business and entertainment into the area; the project is intended to aid redevelopment of the west side of Midtown Manhattan around the West Side Yard of the Long Island Rail Road. It was originally proposed as part of the failed attempt to build the West Side Stadium for the New York Jets and the city's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Although the stadium plan was rejected by city and state planning agencies, the 7 subway extension plan received approval to move ahead, as New York political leaders wanted to see the warehouse district west of Eighth Avenue and north of 34th Street redeveloped, and a subway service would be an essential part of that effort. The extension would also serve the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, renovated in 2006. The New York State Society of Professional Engineers awarded the first construction phase, "Running Tunnels and Underground Structures," its 2013 Construction Project of the Year. According to the society, the project team won the award "for outstanding professional engineering efforts in developing creative solutions and innovative technologies in construction of an infrastructure project. The No. 7 project used the first double-shielded tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to tunnel under New York City while placing precast concrete segments to form the tunnels’ walls. For the first time in the world, a ground freezing method was used to harden soil to act as rock to allow TBMs to maintain proper course while boring and placing the tunnel liners."