Lake Shore Limited: Blocked again

[NKP guy]

A few months ago it was a falling-down building that blocked the tracks in Albany.  Then last month it was a Westchester hillside sliding down and blocking the four track mainline near Croton.  Today it's a parking garage in Manhattan with "structural issues" above the Empire line on the West Side near 10th Avenue that's blocked trains between NYP and Spuyten Duyvil:  

 https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/amtrak-suspension-between-nyc-albany-continues-over-safety-concerns-at-a-parking-garage/4857233/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_NYBrand

 

[Overmod]

Story says affected riders can use their tickets on Metro-North between Croton-Harmon and "New York Penn Station".  That, I'd like to see.  Although I'm not surprised that slipped into print...

[daveklepper]

Won't have a problem with a Metro-North conductorm but might have one when showing his Amtrak ticket to a change-booth attendent at the Grand Central subway station or an M5 bus driver,

[blue streak 1]

Have to wonder if concrete materials were less than standard?  Concrete should not have failed this soon even with exposure to salt.

[BaltACD]

blue streak 1

Have to wonder if concrete materials were less than standard?  Concrete should not have failed this soon even with exposure to salt.

When one investigates construction failures, either while the structure is still under construction or after the job has been completed - more than 90% if the time it is found the somewhere along the line a sub-contractor felt he could substitute a 'cheaper' material of a lesser quality than specified in the specifications for the job.  A story as old as construction for profit.

Romans built their structures to last, not to come in under budget.

[Overmod]

BaltACD

Romans built their structures to last, not to come in under budget.

"Romans" by and large built as cheaply as any other culture -- see 'insulae' for example.  What we have are the parts that didn't get knocked down or re-used -- the roads being an example.

The Persians did far better at 'structures built to last'; some of their major bridges were stone with lead alloy as mortar.  Unlike the old Roman roads or hydraulic-cement ruins... but like Nero's Golden House... those structures had 'adaptive reuse'.