Faulty fan holding up opening of $11 billion LIRR terminal at Grand Central

It should’ve been a breeze!

A single, “underperforming” fan could upend plans to open the long-delayed, $11.6 billion Long Island Railroad terminal beneath Grand Central, the MTA said Wednesday.

“That is literally the only thing that is keeping us from opening at this point,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber told reporters after breaking the news at the authority’s monthly board meeting.

“An $11 billion project is depending on that fan — or that series of ducts — pulling enough air to satisfy the code standard.”

The terminal dubbed “Grand Central Madison” due to its location along Madison Avenue will connect the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal for the first time ever — but not before the end of the year as Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA leaders had hoped.

Instead, the MTA will at first only run shuttle service between the stop and Jamaica, Queens, during what Lieber said would be a “transition period” lasting three weeks or longer.

LIRR President Cathy Rinaldi earlier this week attributed the delay to provide full service to the terminal to “systems testing.” But Lieber insisted the MTA wanted to wait until a time when more people are commuting to the city before launching new schedules.

“It really just wasn’t fair during the holiday season to ask people to, you know, get used to a brand new service,” he said. “I wasn’t even persuaded that we would reach everybody who’s obviously distracted by holidays and family and other obligations.”

The new 350,000-square-foot station formerly known as East Side Access will open more than 15 years after construction started — and 54 years since it was first proposed.

Stephen Yang

Stephen Yang

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Stephen Yang

Stephen Yang

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Officials before COVID estimated 150,000 people would use the new stop each day. The MTA plans to begin selling joint LIRR-Metro-North tickets as part of the terminal’s opening.

The station’s main attraction is four new LIRR platforms, which will be accessible from Grand Central via 180-foot escalators — the longest in the MTA system.

Commuters who enter through the terminal’s concourse will be met by 25 retail shops and a floor-to-ceiling mosaic by the famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

“I am thrilled that we are approaching the finish line now, since it fell to me to reboot this project back in 2019 when I inherited it from many, many others,” Lieber said Wednesday.

“Literally everything is moving forward to allow us to start that Grand Central Direct service in a couple days – with one exception, and this is literally the theater of the absurd. Those two vents … don’t seem to be pulling enough air to satisfy one test.”