The Atlantic Avenue improvement, as mentioned above, involved the removal of the railroad tracks from the street surface for a distance of about 5-1/4 miles. This was done by constructing a series of elevated and subway structures, there being about 2.1 miles of the former, 2.4 miles of the latter, and 0.8 mile of approaches, eliminating more than 90 grade crossings. In the light of recent developments, it may be of interest to note that one of the reasons for establishing a combination elevated and subway line was that, at the time the improvement was projected, no underground railroad in the country, of similar length and carrying a heavy volume of local traffic, was operated by electricity, and public sentiment was against the operation of the entire length of the line underground by steam power. This improvement also provided for depressing the entire Flatbush Avenue station and a freight yard. As the work progressed, the original plans for the station were greatly enlarged, the remodeled station covering about 61 city lots. The main point of passenger distribution is the New York station. Other important stations will be Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn; Jamaica, Long Island, where the changes to and from electric motive power will be made; and Newark, N. J. Many other places, including the seaside resorts on Long Island and in New Jersey, will feel the benefits of the direct tunnel railroad into and through New York City. The Glendale Cut-Off will materially shorten the route and running time from New York through the tunnels to Rockaway Beach. The plans contemplate that passengers to and from the lower part of Manhattan will be carried by the steam line between Newark and Jersey City and cross the North River by ferry or the Cortlandt Street tunnels of the Hudson Company. Eventually, the old main line will be electrified and supersede the steam service between Newark and Jersey City. The Greenville Yard is the most important point for the receipt, transmission, and distribution of freight. From this point freight can be transported, without breaking bulk, by a comparatively short car-ferry to the Long Island Railroad terminus at Bay Ridge, and thus a very large part of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's floatage in New York Harbor and the East River will be abolished, the floatage distance being reduced in the case of the New England freight from about 12 to 3 miles. This traffic will be routed from Bay Ridge _via_ the Long Island Railroad to a connection with and thence over the New York Connecting Railroad to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad at Port Morris, N. Y.