LIRR service to Grand Central starts on Wednesday, MTA announces
MIDTOWN EAST, Manhattan (WABC) -- The MTA announced that the Long Island Rail Road will begin its service to Grand Central on Wednesday.
The service, known as 'Grand Central Direct' will operate between Jamaica station and the brand new Grand Central Madison station in Midtown Manhattan.
There's enough new tracks and platforms to handle up to 24 trains per hour.
Trains will operate between 6:15 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.
The new terminal was built, not next to Grand Central, but under it, roughly 17 stories beneath the street. It's so deep that it takes at least four and a half minutes to get to the trains.
From the street, most riders will travel down one escalator, then down a set of stairs through the corridors and into the concourse. Then, commuters will go down the longest escalator in New York, that's so long and so steep that it takes a minute and 38 seconds to go from top to bottom. From there, it's down another set of stairs to the platforms.
The $12 billion project has been 15 years in the making, but service to Grand Central Madison was postponed due to delays in testing.
For the first several weeks, trains into and out of Grand Central Madison will run as an express shuttle between Manhattan and Jamaica before running direct, to and from points east.
"So it's a couple of weeks of what we call soft opening," MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said. "We invite the public to come take a look at this. See if it's more convenient for you. For many people it will be."
The direct link to Grand Central Terminal is expected to reduce LIRR travel time for commuters by 40 minutes a day.
"Bringing them into the East Side, proximity wise, should be a lot more efficient," said one commuter.
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