I think they wanted people to transfer at 14 and 42 because they only have adequate platform width for the people going to and from Penn.

It is a weird quirk built into the system but not too many situations where it slows anyone down since 42 is the next / previous station and you will almost always end up connecting to the same train you would have at Penn?

I guess there could be some situation where uptown local and express pull in to Penn at same time and you would be able to make a connection but then one is held and they don't connect at 42. But unusual and they run pretty frequently on 1-2-3?