Full LIRR service officially begins in Grand Central Madison

NEW YORK – Grand Central Madison officially begins its full LIRR service program on Monday, after the highly anticipated new transit hub kicked off a limited LIRR run that lasted a few weeks.

After years of delays and massive cost overruns, the hugely expensive rail project carried its first passengers last month from Long Island to a new addition to New York’s iconic Grand Central Terminal.

The MTA initially said that for the first few weeks, the LIRR will operate a limited shuttle service from Jamaica to Grand Central Terminal to help familiarize passengers with the terminal, which was originally scheduled to open in 2022. That start has been pushed back to months. pass. because testing of the security system had not yet been completed, according to Jamie Torres-Springer, president of construction and development for the MTA.

The LIRR is beginning full service from Long Island to Grand Central after launching limited shuttle service for a few weeks. The $11 billion project is a month behind schedule and more than a decade behind schedule.

With full service now available at Grand Central Madison, the LIRR is adding about 300 trains per weekday on top of the roughly 660 trains already in operation, officials said. Some 160,000 passengers are expected to board and alight from the platforms of the new terminal.

Along with expanding service to Penn Station, the connection to Grand Central allows train stops to open in long-neglected areas of the city, including the Bronx, powering new developments and serving as an economic engine. .

“Obviously this makes doing business in Midtown East a more attractive destination for Long Island travelers,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City.

Regular trains will run from 6:15 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on weekends. Trains will run every 30 minutes in both directions during midday periods on weekdays and weekends, and once per hour during peak periods, according to the MTA’s press release.

Those wishing to travel to Grand Central Madison can use Penn Station tickets, as both terminals will be in the same fare zone.

For more information on hours and other details, click here.

In April, our sister channel NBC New York got an exclusive glimpse inside the project terminal that will allow LIRR passengers to have shorter journeys. Located hundreds of feet below Grand Central, the new terminal aims to bring 60% more traffic to Manhattan from Long Island during peak hours, with the added benefit of reducing congestion at Penn Station during peak hours.

The station was due to open in late 2022, but it was delayed somewhat by heating, ventilation and air conditioning issues.

The construction is one of the largest transportation infrastructure projects completed in the United States in recent years, according to the MTA. It is the largest new railroad terminal built in the United States since the 1950s and the first expansion of the LIRR in over 100 years.

For Long Island travelers going to Manhattan, the main advantage of the terminal is the ability to take a train directly to the East Side, where previously the only option was to go to Pennsylvania Station on the West Side and then back. by metro or bus.

The new transit hub, built inside a huge man-made cavern and served by rock-cut rail tunnels, is billed as a major addition to the country’s busiest rail network.

“We got the job done,” Governor Kathy Hochul, the ninth governor to oversee the project that began six decades ago, previously said. “There were so many obstacles, challenges and detours along the way.”

The project includes work at several locations in Manhattan and Queens, and includes more than eight miles of tunnels. It will bring the 11 branches of the LIRR through a new East River tunnel with a final destination under the current Grand Central. This new route will save valuable time for travelers heading to the East Side.

The Federal Railroad Administration announced in November that it had approved the project that will connect the LIRR to the new station near Grand Central Terminal, providing direct LIRR service to a new concourse below the established transit center.

The MTA said the $11 billion project will increase service by 41% on the LIRR, adding about 274 trains each weekday. The morning peak could drop from 113 trains to 158, and the afternoon peak from 98 trains to 158. A new train schedule is expected to be released soon.

The new 700,000 square foot terminal, named Grand Central Madison, was designed and built at a time when New York’s transportation system was crowded with passengers. It opens at a different time, with ridership still significantly lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of remote working.

The new terminal, adorned with public art and filled with storefronts and restaurants, most of which are still empty, is the nation’s largest new station in nearly seven decades and Long Island’s most significant expansion of the past century. Rail Road, the busiest commuter railroad in North America. The two-level concourse supports four platforms and eight lanes.

“I’ve been waiting 30 years,” said John Cannon, a Long Island man who made the maiden 21-minute trip from Jamaica to Manhattan last month. “I no longer need to take the subway.”

Passenger Alexander Rodriguez, a 15-year-old resident of Queens, described the maiden voyage as “pleasant and quiet”.

“And it was fun,” he said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It was the first train.”

Many of the underground tunnels that carry rail travelers under the Hudson River are over a century old, with some requiring more thorough maintenance. The new tunnels built for the project will also allow Amtrak to temporarily divert its trains to the new tunnels so that it can begin restoring the old Eastern tunnels and tracks.

For decades, the project kept moving forward, even amid concerns about rising costs. Construction began in the 1960s, but was abandoned for a time due to a series of economic crises.

Spending on this massive construction project has reached more than $11 billion, more than triple the initial estimate of $3.5 billion two decades ago. The project traversed two miles of bedrock; per mile, it would be one of the world’s most expensive rail projects ever.

“It’s a worthwhile project. But for $11 billion, you’d better not have built it,” said Alon Levy, a transportation researcher at New York University’s Marron Institute, who has compiled rail cost data from around the world.

The money, he argues, could have been used for other transport projects, including improving the capacity of existing rail lines.

Officials acknowledged that engineering costs and the high price of labor in New York City contributed to spiraling spending.

“It’s not a small project. It is one of the greatest feats of engineering. And it’s a tribute to the MTA that they were able to overcome what I would say are bureaucratic delays, engineering delays,” said Mitchell Moss, professor of urban planning and politics at New York University.

Despite the setbacks, Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Associationpreviously hailed the new station as an “engine of economic growth and prosperity” even though the region “still faces pressing transport, housing and resilience challenges”.

“Because this area has an interconnected public transit network, when you make an improvement, the beneficiaries are really the entire system,” said Wright, whose nonprofit organization develops and advocates ways to improve the regional economy, the environment and the quality of life.