A huge new commuter rail terminal built in caverns beneath New York City’s landmark Grand Central Terminal received its first regular passenger trains Wednesday
Riders take photos and videos as they exit the first Long Island Railroad train to arrive in Grand Central Station in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. After years of delays and massive cost overruns, one of the world's most expensive railway projects on Wednesday began shuttling its first passengers between Long Island to a new annex to New York City's iconic Grand Central Terminal.
The new 700,000-square-foot terminal, dubbed Grand Central Madison, was conceived and constructed at a time when New York City's transportation system was bursting with passengers. It opens in a different era, with ridership still significantly down from where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of remote work.
“I've been waiting for 30 years," said John Cannon, a Long Island man who was on the inaugural 21-minute ride from Jamaica, Queens, to Manhattan. “I don't have to take the subways anymore.” “It’s a useful project. But for $11 billion, it would be better not to have built it,” said Alon Levy, a transportation fellow at New York University’s Marron Institute, who has been compiling railway cost data from around the world.
Despite the setbacks, Tom Wright, the president of the Regional Plan Association, hailed Wednesday's opening as a “driver of economic growth and prosperity,” even as the region “still faces urgent transportation, housing and resiliency challenges.”
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