LIRR’s East Side “Grand Central Madison” Station to Open

By Priya Persaud

The NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority reported that the LIRR is finally projected to run to open its new Grand Central Terminal - before the end of 2022.

The railroad confirmed that some aspects of the highly-anticipated East Side Access project would not be fully completed and functional, but that some train service would begin on or just after Christmas.

It was 15 years ago, when the LIRR began its $11.1 billion East Side Access project, to link the LIRR to a new terminal at Grand Central. Through newly dug tunnels, the newly-constructed 700,000-square foot terminal would allow the LIRR to travel directly to and from the East Side of Manhattan.

Currently, the only LIRR service from Long Island to Manhattan goes to Pennsylvania Station on the West Side in Midtown.

This new terminal has been named “Grand Central Madison.”

In the posted report on Monday, the MTA acknowledged that the construction of the LIRR’s new facilities and concourse at Grand Central will be all done by February 2023; though they had initially announced that full completion would be by the end of this year.

Even though construction will be actively occurring, the MTA chief of external relations John McCarthy stated that the overall goal is to have running LIRR passenger trains to and from Grand Central Madison before January, 2023.

According to the MTA, the East Side Access project will decrease the commuting time by 40 minutes for approximately 160,000 passengers a day.