The project will connect Grand Central Terminal to the railroad's Main Line, which connects to all of the LIRR's branches and almost all of its stations.
History
The first proposals for Long Island Rail Road trains entering the east side of Manhattan date to 1963. In 1968, the 63rd Street Tunnel and a new "Metropolitan Transportation Center" at 48th Street and Third Avenue were proposed for the LIRR as part of the Program for Action. After people living near the proposed transportation center objected, the MTA's board of directors voted to use Grand Central as the terminal for the proposed LIRR route in 1977. However, due to the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis, the LIRR project was postponed indefinitely before the 63rd Street Tunnel could be completed. The East Side Access project was restarted after a study in the 1990s that showed that more than half of LIRR riders work closer to Grand Central than to the current terminus at Penn Station. Cost estimates jumped from $4.4 billion in 2004, to $6.4 billion in 2006, then to $11.1 billion. The new stations and tunnels are to begin service in December 2022. The MTA originally planned to build and open additional entrances at 44th, 45th, 47th, and 48th Streets. The station would connect to existing entrances at Grand Central North. The new LIRR station would also contain entrances at 335 Madison Avenue, near the southeast corner with 44th Street; at 270 Park Avenue and 280 Park Avenue near 47th and 48th–49th Streets, respectively; and at 347 Madison Avenue, on the east side of the avenue at 45th Street. An entrance on 46th Street between Lexington and Park Avenue was also built, connecting with Grand Central North. However, the MTA later announced its intent to defer construction of an entrance at 48th Street because the owner of 415 Madison Avenue wanted to undertake a major construction project on the site. The MTA would also connect the new station to the existing 47th Street cross-passage. The escalators would be up to long and descend more than. The escalators and elevators would be among the few privately operated escalators and elevators in the entire MTA system.
Station layout
The station will have, including for passengers and of retail space.
Concourse
The retail and dining concourse will be accessed from street-level or the Metro-North terminal via stairwells, 22 elevators, and 47 escalators. The number of elevators in this terminal would exceed the 19 escalators in the remainder of the LIRR system combined. Entrances to the LIRR terminal will exist from Grand Central Terminal's Dining Concourse and Biltmore Room. Additionally, the MTA plans to build and open new entrances to the LIRR station at 45th, 46th, and 48th streets.
Platforms and tracks
LIRR trains will arrive and depart from a tunnel that will sit more than below Park Avenue and more than below the Metro-North tracks. The LIRR terminal will add four platforms and eight tracks in two bi-level caverns. There will be four tracks and two platforms in each of the two caverns, and each cavern would contain two tracks and one platform on each level. A mezzanine will sit on a center level between the LIRR's two track levels. Reaching the street from the lowest new level, more than deep, will take about 10 minutes.
