PLAN OF NEW YORK AND  ITS ENVIRONS
 

PASSENGER TRAIN SERVICE IN THE
CENTRAL DISTRICT

IN studying this great area of 5,500 square miles it is necessary to see to what
extent people having their homes outside of the most populous centers add
to the day population of these centers and have to be carried, not only to
them by trunk line railroads, but from point to point within the central area by
the local transit systems. A fair indication of the amount of this movement is
indicated by the diagram on page 23 showing the passenger train service. The
widths of the several strips are proportioned to the number of passenger trains
operated by the various railroads each twenty-four hours. While this does not
represent the passenger-carrying capacity, or even the actual movement of per¬
sons, it will give a pretty good indication of its magnitude.

The increase in the width of the strips as they approach the city terminals
shows the large commuting business done by the several railroads, even within
the restricted area included in the map. This is especially noticeable on Long
Island, where the Long Island Railroad has terminals at the Pennsylvania
Railroad Station in Manhattan and at the Atlantic Avenue Station in Brooklyn.
The number of trains brought into these stations by that system has increased
so greatly of late that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company has appealed to the
city to build one or more rapid transit lines from Jamaica, to pick up the Long
Island passengers and distribute them through the city, claiming that, if this is
not done, they will be crowded out of the Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal,
which was built to accommodate long-distance traffic.
 

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