Deep Underground: Photos of the Massive Train Tunnels Being Dug Underneath Midtown Manhattan

[Ego Noir]

In Manhattan, where street traffic tends to stall, only one subway runs the length of the East Side. Every weekday, 1.3 million passengers — more than are carried in 24 hours by the transit systems of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco combined — cram onto the Lexington Avenue line. Yet the chaos above and below has inspired afeat: about 475 laborers are now removing 15 million cubic feet of rock and 6 million cubic feet of soil — more than half an Empire State Building by volume — out from under two miles of metropolis. In December 2016, that tunnel will make its debut as a portion of the Second Avenue subway

The massive tunnel-boring, rock-eating mechanical worms may do the heavy lifting, but there is still no way to mine a tunnel without sending men into it. The Timesrecently went underground with these men, capturing their work on film and in photos. Testing the stability of the ground is crucial, and under 92nd Street, the crew encountered soil and crumbling rock, which, if they simply settled the ground and dug right through, it would collapse the buildings above. Instead, they had to freeze the earth by pumping a constant stream of minus-13 degrees calcium-chloride brine into the ground for 10 weeks. Only then could they cut the tunnel.

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A few blocks away is the East Side Access Project, the tunnel extending the LIRR to Grand Central station was not due to be completed until 2023 at a cost of $10.8 billion, a decade later and $6.5 billion more than anticipated. The project is indeed moving forward, and doing so on a scale so massive that it's almost too large for a picture to capture. The photos, on the Grand Central Terminal side of the project, show what will become a new subterranean station for the LIRR. Eighteen stories below street level, these photos of the cavernous excavations taking place below our very feet are certainly humbling. His photographs are somber and eerie, perhaps a reflection of the very subterranean scenes. This herculean task is "the nation's largest single infrastructure project to date"

 

[FaTaL]

looks like total recall and shyt

amazing

 

[Ego Noir]

looks like total recall and shyt

amazing

Its wild how that is going on underneath this

Imagine the pressure on the structural engineer to not **** it up

 

[SonofaGod]

this is amazing

what im more interested in is the amount of work it takes to ensure the skyscapers above dont cave in

 

[Swiggy]

More impressive than any above-ground structure. True modern marvel.

 

[Pinyapplesuckas]

got me bout to watch Ghostbusters now

 

[kp404]

Midnight Meat Train :mutantusure:

 

[jdubnyce]

reminding me of that die hard with sam jack

 

[Mass]

Imagine the pressure on the structural engineer to not **** it up

That salary

 

[Ego Noir]

That salary

Well deserved. THAT is a skillset

 

[Just like bruddas]

I need to apply for that construction job

 

[Ego Noir]

More impressive than any above-ground structure. True modern marvel.

Puts into perspective the intelligence of mankind.

the fact that something like this can be pulled off with ease

 

[Canada Goose]

this is amazing

what im more interested in is the amount of work it takes to ensure the skyscapers above dont cave in

The subway tunnels run under the streets and not under the buildings in most cases.

 

[SonofaGod]

The subway tunnels run under the streets and not under the buildings in most cases.

never thought of it that way.

but it also has to withstand the massive vibrations of them trains barreling through. One wrong calculation and thats a MASSIVE fukkup.

 

[FaTaL]

Its wild how that is going on underneath this

Imagine the pressure on the structural engineer to not **** it up

gotta be cold as fuk under there pumping in all that -13 shyt