faithfromanewperspective asked:

hey! i'm an aussie urban designer in training so i'm sorry if i don't know much about how you guys run!! but i was looking at the map the other day. and the amtrak runs along the river?!? just next to it? how does that work? do you have any pictures of the infrastructure in order to make that possible?

(i'll admit i don't know the first thing about physics or engineering to hold up a train. but i do know a lot of hydrology and riparian ecology and so. that's what has me slightly concerned)

So I am not an expert on this but from what I understand they basically just carved into the terrain a bit and put in some embankments, it helps that the Hudson River doesn’t flood much. These tracks were built in the late 1800s so they probably didn’t put much thought into the ecology.