After completing a trial period, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) formalized its service to Grand Central in Midtown East, Manhattan (NYC).
According to the authorities, LIRR service from Monday to Friday will be increased by 41% and will operate up to 24 trains per hour.
“To be here today in the beautiful new lobby of Grand Central Madison is exciting,” LIRR Interim President and Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi said yesterday at a news conference. “This project has been in planning and development since the 1960s, and it is revolutionizing travel across the region.”
But some passengers have complained that the additional stop in Midtown East en route to Penn Station is prompting longer and less frequent trips to Manhattan West, according to Fox News.
After 15 years of works, on January 25 of this year Long Island was finally linked with Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The service, known as ‘Grand Central Direct’, operates between the LIRR station in Jamaica (Queens) and the new Grand Central Madison stationbuilt below the historic terminal in Midtown East Manhattan.
The new service also makes it possible to attend to JFK Airport Users, the largest in New York, whose AirTrain service connects to the LIRR in Queens. MTA calculates 20 minute commute between Jamaica Station and Grand Central.
After years of delays and cost overruns, limited by problems in the ventilation system that added a last obstacle, the “Grand Central Madison” project cost $12.7 billion and took 15 years, much more than the plan initially estimated in the 1990s for $2.8 billion and which would take less than a decade to build, he recalled. Daily News.
Planning for the project began during the administration of Governor George Pataki in the 1990s. But construction didn’t begin until 2008. The new LIRR platforms in Manhattan stretch from East 43rd St. to East 48th St. in gigantic caverns 175 feet below street level.
Open to the public since 1913, Grand Central Terminal’s exterior architecture and interior design have earned it several honors, including a US National Historic Landmark. It is one of the most photographed and traveled tourist attractions in the world, with 67 million passengers a year., second only in traffic in the US by Penn Station in Manhattan West. In 1998 this mega railway station was relaunched.
For details on expanded rail service between Long Island and Manhattan East visit this official link All schedules are also available at LIRR Train Time app.