Long-awaited LIRR service to Grand Central Station finally starts today – with a few clues

The long-awaited arrival of the Long Island Railroad at Grand Central Station is finally here – or at least a modified version of it.

The MTA, when announcing the debut of LIRR service at Grand Central Madison, stated that launch options would be limited. For the first three weeks, the LIRR will operate a limited shuttle service from Jamaica to Grand Central to help passengers familiarize themselves with the terminal, which was originally scheduled to open in 2022.

According to Jamie Torres-Springer, president of the MTA’s Construction and Development Division, the 2022 debut has been delayed because safety testing has not yet been completed.

The first train to Grand Central on January 25 will leave Jamaica at 10:45 am and arrive at the new terminal on the East Side of Manhattan at 11:07 am. There will be customer representatives at Grand Central Madison. lobby to welcome customers and help provide information.

The LIRR will begin a full service from Long Island to Grand Central Station after the first few weeks of the limited shuttle, according to the MTA. The $11 billion project is a month overdue and more than ten years behind the original schedule.

When regular flights begin, they will run from 6:15 to 20:00 on weekdays and from 7:00 to 23:00 on weekends. According to an MTA press release, trains will run every 30 minutes in both directions at noon on weekdays and weekends, and once an hour during peak periods.

Those wishing to travel to Grand Central Madison can use Penn Station tickets as both terminals will be in the same fare zone.

For more information on the schedule and other details click here.

The Federal Railroad Administration announced in November that it had approved a project that would connect the LIRR to a new station near Grand Central Station, providing direct service to the LIRR in a new concourse below the existing transit hub.

The MTA said the $11 billion project would increase LIRR’s service by 41 percent, adding about 274 trains each weekday. Morning traffic could be reduced from 113 trains to 158, and afternoon traffic from 98 trains to 158. The new train schedule is expected to be published soon.

Back in April, NBC New York received an exclusive review of the project’s terminal, which will allow LIRR passengers to make shorter journeys. Hundreds of feet below Grand Central Station, the new terminal is designed to provide 60 percent more traffic to Manhattan from Long Island during peak hours, and reduce congestion at Pennsylvania Station during peak hours.

According to the MTA, the construction is one of the largest transportation infrastructure projects completed in the United States in recent years. It is the largest new train station built in the US since the 1950s and the first LIRR expansion in over 100 years.

The project includes work at multiple locations in Manhattan and Queens, as well as more than eight miles of tunneling. It will run all 11 LIRR branches through the new East River Tunnel with its final destination under the current Grand Central Station. This new route will save valuable time for passengers heading to the East Side.

The MTA hasn’t given an exact date for when passengers will be able to use the new terminal for the first time, which is actually below the original Central Station, but said it would happen before the end of 2022 and that it could save LIRR passengers 30 minutes on the journey. . Reported by NBC New York correspondent Andrew Siff.

“For the first time in 30 years, we are taking a fresh look at [LIRR] schedules,” said LIRR President Cathy Rinaldi.

The project is a component of a wider expansion of the LIRR system to help reduce passenger congestion, train congestion, and vehicular traffic, and provide connectivity to regional transportation such as the Metro North Railroad and New York City Transit. East Side Access will also reduce train and passenger congestion at New York’s Pennsylvania Station and nearby subway stations.

The new project will also allow people to get to JFK from Central Station in 40 minutes.

Manhattan Hall includes LIRR’s 350,000-square-foot passenger lounge just below street level in the Grand Central neighborhood, which will offer new entrances along Madison Avenue, 25 retail stores, Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, new art installations, and digital train signage in real time. Information. The 347 Madison Avenue entrance alone, under construction at 45th Street as part of the redevelopment of the former MTA headquarters, is expected to serve 10,000 people a day.

Once completed, East Side Access, which has been in the works for many years, will serve about 162,000 customers a day, according to the MTA.

“When I joined the MTA in 2018, one of my first actions was a detailed review of East Side Access,” Janno Lieber, president of MTA Construction & Development, previously said. “We redoubled our efforts on this project, expressing faith in its foundations but redefining how we delivered it. In the past, when faced with problems, the answer was to push back the completion date of the project. this project will be completed in 2022 as promised.”