Full Long Island Rail Road service is finally set to commence at Grand Central Madison on Feb. 27, Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Janno Lieber announced on Wednesday.
The brand new, 714,000-square-foot terminal deep under Manhattan’s east side will until then continue to host only the Grand Central Direct shuttle service to-and-from Jamaica, Queens, developed to acquaint riders with the new station and the ways it could change their commute. But the end of February will bring to fruition the MTA’s ultimate goal with the megaproject: increasing LIRR capacity by more than 40% and shaving up to 40 minutes off riders’ commutes.
“This is transformational,” Lieber said at a press conference outside the MTA’s lower Manhattan headquarters. “Faster, more convenient travel that brings Long Island and the city closer together is a major shot in the arm for the regional economy, for the effort to get people back to offices, to shopping, to theater, to everything that connects us as neighbors and as New Yorkers who like to have the full experience of the region.”
Lieber said the station enables the LIRR to run an additional 271 trains per day in its service area, increasing capacity not only to Manhattan in the morning and back to the Island in the evening, but also service for the growing class of reverse-commuters who live in the city and work on Long Island.
The station, and the shuttle service, opened to great fanfare last month, after decades in the pipeline and a notoriously protracted design and construction process plagued by mismanagement and cost overruns. The project ultimately sported an eye-popping $11.6 billion price tag, making it one of the most expensive infrastructure projects in American history.
Despite the splendor and the expense, it didn’t take long for one of the city’s longest escalators, bringing riders from the concourse to the platforms 17 stories underground, to break down at the terminal.
The MTA’s LIRR schedules now reflect service into Grand Central Madison; learn more at new.mta.info/agency/long-island-rail-road/timetables.
