East Side Access
East Side Access (ESA) is a public works project in New York City that extended the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) two miles from its Main Line in Queens to the new Grand Central Madison station under Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan's East Side. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) project was originally scheduled to open in 2009 but was delayed by more than a decade. The new station and tunnels opened with limited service to Jamaica station in Queens on January 25, 2023, and full service began on February 27, 2023. The estimated cost of the project rose over threefold from US$3.5 billion to US$11.1 billion as of April 2018, making it one of the world's most expensive underground rail-construction projects.
East Side Access
Full service
2
MTA Long Island Rail Road
162,000 daily (projected)
September 2007
January 25, 2023[1]
2 mi (3.2 km)
6.1 mi (9.8 km)
2–8
Underground
4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
The new LIRR terminal contains eight tracks and four platforms in a two-level station 100 feet (30.5 m) below street level. It was built in conjunction with several other LIRR expansion projects, including an additional track along parts of the Main Line. The project was intended to remove or reduce the need for subway transfers for a large number of riders with jobs on the east side of Manhattan. Previously, the only Manhattan stop for trains from Long Island was Penn Station, on the west side of the island.
East Side Access was based on transit plans from the 1950s, though an LIRR terminal on Manhattan's East Side was first proposed in 1963. The planned LIRR line was included in the 1968 Program for Action of transit improvements in the New York City area. Lack of funds prevented the construction of any part of the connection other than the 63rd Street Tunnel under the East River. Plans for the LIRR connection were revived in the late 1990s. The project received federal funding in 2006, and construction began the following year. The tunnels on the Manhattan side were dug from 2007 to 2011, and the connecting tunnels on the Queens side were completed in 2012. Afterward, work began on other facilities related to the line, such as new platforms at Grand Central, ventilation and ancillary buildings, communication and utility systems, and supporting rail infrastructure in Queens. The project's completion was delayed several times during construction.
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
The East Side Access project was based on regional planning proposals that were first brought up in the 1950s.[2]: 18 (PDF p. 21) In March 1954, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) issued a $658 million construction program. The proposal included a tunnel for the Second Avenue Subway, which would cross the East River between 76th Street in Manhattan and Astoria in Queens before continuing onto the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s Main Line in Queens.[3] The 76th Street tunnel proposal resurfaced in 1963, though the location of the tunnel was changed several times thereafter.[4] In 1965, the NYCTA finally decided to build the subway tunnel at 63rd Street.[5]
The first proposals to bring LIRR service to a terminal in eastern Midtown Manhattan arose in 1963.[2]: 17 (PDF p. 20) To facilitate planning for this terminal, a third track was added to the plans for the 63rd Street subway tunnel in April 1966. The track would serve LIRR trains to east Midtown, alleviating train traffic into Penn Station on Manhattan's west side while integrating the LIRR with the subway.[6] A fourth track was added to the plans in August 1966 after it was determined that LIRR trains would be too large to run on subway tracks. This amendment increased the number of LIRR tracks to two, and provided segregated tracks for the LIRR and the subway.[7]
In February 1968, the NYCTA's parent company, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), released the Program for Action, which proposed numerous improvements to subway, railway, and airport service in the New York metropolitan area. The plan included a new LIRR terminal at a proposed Metropolitan Transportation Center at Third Avenue and 48th Street in East Midtown. It also included connections to Grand Central Terminal, with a new northern entrance leading to the center, and the Second Avenue Subway, among other transit services.[8]: 5 [9] The new LIRR line was to branch off from existing lines in Sunnyside, Queens, and enter Manhattan using the new two-level 63rd Street Tunnel. The upper level was to be used by the New York City Subway's 63rd Street lines and the lower level was to be used by the LIRR.[9] According to renderings of the transportation center, the mezzanine would be placed above four island platforms and eight tracks, which would be split evenly across two levels,[8]: 48–49 similar to the present terminal under Grand Central.[10][11]
Impact[edit]
A primary goal of the project was to reduce travel time for LIRR passengers traveling to the East Side of Manhattan. The MTA expected passengers to save about 40 minutes during a typical round trip by using Grand Central Madison instead of Penn Station.[115][156] Shortly after Grand Central Madison opened, a reporter for Gothamist wrote that transferring from there to the Grand Central–42nd Street station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4, 5, 6, and <6> trains) took 10 to 12 minutes on foot via escalators, roughly the same amount of time it took to travel from 34th Street–Penn Station to Grand Central–42nd Street using the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and 42nd Street Shuttle.[157] The project was expected to add passengers on the already overcrowded IRT Lexington Avenue Line and on surface bus routes on the East Side; but to reduce the load on rush-hour E train service between Pennsylvania Station and Midtown East and 7 train service across the East River.[158]
In April 2023, the MTA detailed the effects of the opening of the station on subway ridership. Many fewer people traveled on the subway between the East Side and Penn Station: 31 percent fewer weekday trips between Grand Central and Penn Station, a 34 percent decline on the E train between the East 53rd Street corridor and Penn Station, and 42nd Street Shuttle ridership declined as well. But ridership on the subway from Grand Central to Upper Manhattan increased by 10 percent and ridership from Grand Central to Union Square, by 18 percent.[159]
LIRR customer satisfaction, which stood at 81 percent before East Side Access opened, decreased to 68 percent by May 2023, in part because of the loss of direct service to Atlantic Terminal and the discontinuation of timed transfers at Jamaica, an MTA study found.[160] In particular, satisfaction among Atlantic Branch riders had been halved, from 82 percent to 41 percent.[160][161] Upon the line's first anniversary, ridership and customer satisfaction were growing. Some 40% of LIRR passengers coming from and going to Manhattan were using Grand Central Madison—less than the 45% the MTA expected but up from the 30% the station began opened with. In addition, Grand Central Madison served approximately 80,000 LIRR riders daily, and LIRR customer satisfaction had increased to 70 percent.[162] Passengers who frequently traveled to Grand Central Madison found that the new terminal did not have the right amount of service, had a confusing station layout, and did not have enough restaurants and eateries. Despite these complaints, the number of Long Island residents spending money in Midtown East had increased 60 percent from January 2023.[162]
The opening of East Side Access saw the LIRR run 41 percent more trains per day, including substantial increases in reverse-peak service.[163] MTA Chair Janno Lieber said that "for the first time we have enough capacity to send trains out to Long Island in the morning, and that means that Long Island businesses can recruit the entire region".[163][164]
Controversies[edit]
Costs and construction delays[edit]
The project's estimated cost has increased from $3.5 billion when first proposed[165] to $4.3 billion in 1999,[165][166][167] $5.3 billion in 2003,[83] $6.3 billion in 2004,[165][166][83][168] $7.2 billion in 2008,[83][50] $8.4 billion in 2012,[165][166][169] and either $9.7 billion[83] or $10.8 billion in 2014.[158][165] By 2017, the projected cost was either $12 billion[170] or $10.2 billion,[171] making it the most expensive construction project of its type in the world by either measure.[171][170] The MTA budgeted a total of $10.178 billion to the project over five 5-year capital programs, up to and including the 2015–2019 capital program. Of these, 27% are federal funds and the other 73% are local funds. As of November 2017, the MTA had spent $7.397 billion of the available funding.[172]: 40 As of April 2018, the project was expected to cost $11.1 billion, an increase from a previous estimate of $10.2 billion.[171][83][173] The project had $10.3 billion in funding, which allowed construction to continue through 2020.[11] The state legislature had to approve an additional $798 million to allow construction to be completed, but this had not been approved by late 2019.[174]
