LIRR Service to Grand Central

[jis]

Another change of plans pushing back inaguration of service to Grand Central Madison, possibly by several months...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/d...pc=U531&cvid=5527d3be1f1b406f9f8023601782ea9c

 

[joelkfla]

Another change of plans pushing back inaguration of service to Grand Central Madison, possibly by several months...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/delayed-grand-central-madison-will-not-open-in-2022-mta-says/

Link says page not found.

Here's something similar:
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/delayed-grand-central-madison-will-not-open-in-2022-mta-says/

 

[Fenway]

FINALLY!!!!!!

https://www.newsday.com/beta/long-island/transportation/grand-central-madison-opening-lirr-h5jtaglk
The Long Island Rail Road will run its first passenger trains to its new Manhattan home, Grand Central Madison, on Wednesday morning.

The opening of the 700,000-square-foot station, announced by MTA officials on Monday evening, will mark the culmination of nearly six decades of planning, as well as more than 15 years of construction of the $11.1 billion East Side Access megaproject.

“The first train is scheduled to originate at Jamaica at 10:45 a.m. and run express to Grand Central Madison where it is scheduled to arrive at 11:07 a.m.,” the LIRR said in a statement.

 

[joelkfla]

FINALLY!!!!!!

https://www.newsday.com/beta/long-island/transportation/grand-central-madison-opening-lirr-h5jtaglk
The Long Island Rail Road will run its first passenger trains to its new Manhattan home, Grand Central Madison, on Wednesday morning.

The opening of the 700,000-square-foot station, announced by MTA officials on Monday evening, will mark the culmination of nearly six decades of planning, as well as more than 15 years of construction of the $11.1 billion East Side Access megaproject.

“The first train is scheduled to originate at Jamaica at 10:45 a.m. and run express to Grand Central Madison where it is scheduled to arrive at 11:07 a.m.,” the LIRR said in a statement.

Looks like this is the just the limited shuttle service that they first intended to start in December. I wasn't able to read any further before the paywall popped up.

ETA: Here's an article in the Post (with some pretty pictures) that doesn't appear to be paywalled:
https://nypost.com/2023/01/24/grand-centrals-lirr-terminal-to-finally-open-wednesday/
It says it will be at least 3 weeks before regular service begins.

 

[Rambling Robert]

MTA Release:
https://new.mta.info/press-release/...ice-grand-central-madison-begin-wednesday-jan
======•=======================

My brother did engineering work on the East Side Access Project throughout its construction. Before that he worked for the MTA. He’s looking for work - haha.

IMHO Newsday is a far better paper than the NY Post. I delivered Newsday in Levittown from 1961 to 1965. But too bad about the paywall - Newsday is better than that! [I was able to access the Newsday article by copying the byline/NEWSDAY. It usually works.]

 

[Fenway]

The first reviews are positive




https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loc...-grand-central-terminal-what-to-know/4067329/

 

[Fenway]

 

[Tlcooper44]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgy...struction-on-latest-american-transit-disaster

 

[John819]

Well, in defense of ESA, it took less time from proposal to opening than the Second Avenue Subway!

 

[joelkfla]

Well, in defense of ESA, it took less time from proposal to opening than the Second Avenue Subway!

Anything you can name took less time than the 2nd Ave. Subway.

 

[PVD]

What is often lost in this picture is that the 63rd st tunnel construction began more than 50 years ago. There were many plan changes and reasons for stalling elements of the project, the subway level went into service, albeit in limited fashion, 30 + years ago. ESA was a reimagination of the original plan, although ultimately may be better.

 

[railiner]

What is often lost in this picture is that the 63rd st tunnel construction began more than 50 years ago. There were many plan changes and reasons for stalling elements of the project, the subway level went into service, albeit in limited fashion, 30 + years ago. ESA was a reimagination of the original plan, although ultimately may be better.

I forgot what the original plan was…did it provide some kind of connection from the 63rd Street Tunnel to the MN’s Park Avenue tunnel?
It’s too bad they didn’t make that possible some how, even if the completely separate terminal design is better…

 

[PVD]

They were going to build a new East Side Terminal near the UN

 

[Fenway]

 

[Tlcooper44]

I think I'm split on this project.

At this point, non-car infrastructure of this scale getting finished is such a rarity (maybe once every two decades or so) that I'm glad it happened. Plus, this adds major system redundancy, which is something that America has a lot of trouble fathoming the importance of. The author does acknowledge this, but I don't think he grasps just how crucial it is for the country's busiest railroad to have a second way into NYC.

OTOH, just about every aspect of this project, from planning, to execution, to opening, is embarrassing.

All that said, once these projects get finished, public memory of how bad they are lasts anywhere from 5-10 years. After that, people are just glad the infrastructure exists in the first place.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Does anyone know why they built pretty much separate station deep down rather than using tracks at actual Grand Central station

 

[Brian Battuello]

Good summary at Grand Central Madison station - Wikipedia, and much more detail in the quoted references.

I'm not an expert, but I suspect it would have been far harder to bring tracks under the East river and connect to the essentially ground level tracks and one level down tracks at GCT. And even without Amtrak or the 20th Century Limited, they get pretty busy at rush hour.

 

[Tlcooper44]

Does anyone know why they built pretty much separate station deep down rather than using tracks at actual Grand Central station

Good summary at Grand Central Madison station - Wikipedia, and much more detail in the quoted references.

I'm not an expert, but I suspect it would have been far harder to bring tracks under the East river and connect to the essentially ground level tracks and one level down tracks at GCT. And even without Amtrak or the 20th Century Limited, they get pretty busy at rush hour.

That and Metro North is very protective of their tracks and slots, among other things.

 

[PVD]

And they have different third rail shoe configuration and I believe some signaling differences as well.

 

[jis]

And there is no spare capacity during rush hours in the classic Grand Central.

 

[Gp30sieb]

I can now get from Beacon, NY to JFK without having to go to Poughkeepsie or Croton to pick up Amtrak to go to Penn Station to get to the Airtrain in Jamaica.

 

[Thirdrail7]

More than 20% of LIRR trains can’t run in Grand Central Madison tunnel​

https://gothamist.com/news/more-than-20-of-lirr-trains-cant-fit-into-grand-central-madison-tunnel

The tunnel used by trains going to Grand Central Madison was completed in the early 1970s, but it's too small for the LIRR’s diesel trains. The tube runs between Long Island City and East 63rd Street, carrying subway trains on its upper level and LIRR trains on the lower level.

This is why they couldn't modify the existing tunnel to fit the train of today.

The agency’s diesel trains, which serve areas of Long Island without electrified tracks, are 14 feet tall. And MTA officials said its M3 train cars from the 1980s are small enough to fit in the tunnel, but do not have the right equipment to run on its tracks. .

Those trains make up 22% of the LIRR's fleet, and the only East River tunnels they fit in are the ones serving Penn Station.

I knew the diesel fleet couldn't fit, but what is wrong with the M3s?

 

[Cal]

Is it a big deal that only a quarter-ish of their fleet can't run through those tunnels though? Yes, it's an obvious inconvenience, but out of their many major terminals don't they have adequate equipment for service to this one major station?

 

[Fenway]

Is it a big deal that only a quarter-ish of their fleet can't run through those tunnels though? Yes, it's an obvious inconvenience, but out of their many major terminals don't they have adequate equipment for service to this one major station?

One would think that knowing the 63rd Street Tunnel would become a reality any rolling stock going forward would be compatible.....

 

[Dutchrailnut]

The M-3's are restricted from GCT Madison due to incompatibility with the ACSES used in new Terminal and its approaches.
With M-9's still being delivered the M-3 problem slowly disappears.