Today in History - 1910

On December 12, 1901, Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) president Alexander Cassatt announced the railroad's plan to enter New York City by tunneling under the Hudson and building a grand station on the West Side of Manhattan, south of 34th Street.

Beginning in June, 1903, two single-track tunnels were bored from the west under the Hudson River and four single-track tunnels were bored from the east under the East River. This second set of tunnels linked the new station to Queens and the Long Island Rail Road, which came under PRR control, and Sunnyside Yard in Queens, where trains would be maintained and assembled. Electrification was initially 600 volts DC–third rail, later changed to 11,000 volts AC–overhead catenary, when electrification of PRR's mainline was eventually extended to Washington, D. C. in the early 1930s.

The tunnel technology was so new and innovative that in 1907 the PRR shipped an actual 23-foot diameter section of the new East River Tunnel to the Jamestown Exposition near Norfolk, Virginia to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown Settlement. The same tube, with an inscription indicating that it had been displayed at the Exposition, was later installed under water and remains in use today. Construction was completed on the Hudson River tunnel on October 9, 1906, and on the East River tunnel March 18, 1908. Meanwhile, ground was broken for Pennsylvania Station on May 1, 1904. By the time of its completion and the inauguration of regular through train service on Sunday, November 27, 1910, the total project cost to the Pennsylvania Railroad for the station and associated tunnels was $114 million (in 1910 dollars), roughly $2.5 billion today.