LIRR's New East Side Access Now Expected To Open Fully In Early 2023

LONG ISLAND, NY — Grand Central Madison — the new, 700,000 sure foot Long Island Rail Road terminal that's nearing completion under Grand Central Terminal and opening up East Side access to commuters — will not be fully operational until 2023, the Metropolitan trans said Monday.

In previous weeks, the MTA had said the plan was to unveil the new service before the end of 2022. No opening date in 2023 has yet been announced.

In the interim, however, special shuttle trains will begin operating between the LIRR's Jamaica staton and Grand Central Madison, beginning when facility systems testing is complete, to enable the public to begin exploring the new terminal and its route while the LIRR continues to maintain full existing schedules to Penn Station, the MTA said.

Grand Central Direct trains will operate between Grand Central Madison and Jamaica every 30 minutes during middays and on weekends, and hourly during weekday rush periods. They will be overlaid as additions to the LIRR’s existing timetables to ensure there are no changes to existing trains to Penn Station and other destinations, the MTA said.

During the shuttle period, the LIRR will have customer ambassadors on the Grand Central Madison concourse to greet customers and offer information about the new space.

The special Grand Central Direct service will wrap up with the initiation of full train service; the MTA will provide at least three weeks’ notice before the new full schedules go into effect.

“The MTA has held the line on Grand Central Madison’s opening date and budget since I rebooted the project in 2017 by empowering project management, developing a clear understanding of 44,000 work items and creating priority-based scheduling,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber.

“It isn’t every day that customers get access to a world-class new train terminal, so we wanted to open up the opportunity to see the space weeks in advance of the full-scale new service going into effect,” said Catherine Rinaldi, interim president, MTA Long Island Rail Road and President, MTA Metro-North Railroad. “Customers who are curious about the new terminal will be able to try it out, and we hope anyone who wants to will come take a look at the impressive new space.”

Project team members have been working hard in conjunction with LIRR forces to ensure a smooth opening, said Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA construction and development. “More than a dozen systems from traction power to ventilation to data feeds for real-time departure boards to fire alarms have been tested, re-tested, and re-tested again," she said.

Operational control of Grand Central Madison — the new, 700,000 sure foot Long Island Rail Road terminal that's nearing completion under Grand Central Terminal and opening up East Side access to commuters —has been transferred to the LIRR from MTA construction and development, the MTA agency responsible for building the facility, announced last week.

The transfer of control, "a significant step toward opening the new terminal", took place at noon on Friday and was overseen by the Federal Railroad Administration, the MTA said. The transfer signifies that the rail operations at Grand Central Madison and the tunnels leading to it are now federally regulated railroad territory.

The project is moving forward, with the final stages of testing, officials said. MTA construction and development remains active on the site, with contractors testing air flow and life safety systems, as well as the escalators and elevators that are essential for the operation of Grand Central Madison.

The new terminal is the largest passenger rail terminal to be built in the country in 67 years and has been one of the largest transportation infrastructure projects in the United States in recent years, the MTA said. The two-level caverns support four platforms and eight tracks, and upon opening, will provide Long Island’s commuters direct access to Manhattan’s east side, offer new commuting opportunities for reverse peak travelers, and enhance New York’s regional connectivity.

When the LIRR begins full service to Grand Central Madison, it will introduce the largest schedule increase in LIRR history, adding 269 trains per weekday, a 41 percent systemwide service increase, to 936 trains per weekday from the current 667, officials said.

The new terminal will also allow the LIRR to accommodate anticipated customer demand to Manhattan when Amtrak begins a project in 2024 to rebuild its East River Tunnels to Penn Station. The project will take one of the four tunnels out of service, in sequence, over a period of three years, reducing LIRR capacity to Penn Station — capacity the LIRR will be able to maintain to Manhattan with its new tunnels to Grand Central Madison, officials said.

Other benefits include more evenly spaced trains and fewer gaps in service; more frequent service to Queens and on the Ronkonkoma and West Hempstead branches; a 28 percent increase in Brooklyn service; decreased travel times from Long Island to Manhattan; and less crowding in Penn Station."

In November, officials pledged that the terminal would open on time. According to the MTA's website, the project known as East Side Access will culminate with the opening of Grand Central Madison, a new terminal along Madison Avenue between 43rd and 48th Streets.

Not only will the new terminal mean easier access to the East Side for Long Island commuters, it will save those same passengers up to 40 minutes of travel time per day, the MTA said.

And, according to an MTA representative, the project symbolizes a "huge increase to service, with 41 percent more trains system-wide on the LIRR."

Those increases will primarily benefit the electric portions of LIRR service, MTA official said.

According to the MTA site, about 45 percent of LIRR commuters are expected to go to Grand Central Madison, so there will be less crowding at Penn Station and the surrounding subway lines.Therefore, the new service to Grand Central will increase peak hour capacity, "and — in combination with the Double Track and LIRR Expansion Project — will make true reverse commuting between Manhattan and Long Island a reality," the MTA said.

According to the MTA, when the project is complete, trains at Harold Interlocking, a railroad junction that serves both Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road, will be able to pass through more efficiently. This will benefit travelers all along the northeast corridor.

Highlights of the project, according to the MTA, include direct connection for all 11 LIRR lines to Grand Central Terminal and Midtown East; a new, 350,000-square-foot terminal with spacious waiting areas, retail and restaurants, real-time departure information, and free wifi; more than 160,000 passengers per day saving as much as 40 minutes on their trips; two new tunnels that will increase train capacity to and from Manhattan by up to 5o percent; less crowding at Penn Station; and improvements to and expansion of Harold Interlocking, a critical piece of the Northeast Corridor

According to the MTA, plans were first proposed in 1963 and then, commenced in 1998; the years since have been long, with total costs for the project now projected at $11.1 billion, an estimate that has remained fixed since new MTA CEO Janno Lieber took the helm, MTA reps said.

At an MTA update, MTA President of Construction and Development Jamie Torres-Springer spoke, saying a "project of this size is an enormous task. It is many times larger than Grand Central's existing terminal. As Janno Lieber says, 'It's like laying the Chrysler building on its side.'"

Torres-Springer has said the "long pole in the tent is finalizing testing of our air flow system," something that's being worked on 24/7, including adjustments. "We won't open a new facility without having this signed off on, so we can be sure of the safety of our riders," Torres-Springer said.