More than 20% of the Long Island Rail Road’s train cars can’t fit through the East River tunnel that serves the new Grand Central Madison station.
Donate NowAside from the schedule confusion and marathon transfers, there’s a much simpler reason why last month’sto Grand Central Madison has caused problems for riders: Nearly a quarter of the Long Island Rail Road’s train cars can’t run through the East River tunnel that serves the new station.
The tunnel used by trains going to Grand Central Madison was completed in the early 1970s, but it's too small for the LIRR’s diesel trains. The tube runs between Long Island City and East 63rd Street, carrying subway trains on its upper level and LIRR trains on the lower level. The MTA’s service plan for the launch of Grand Central Madison could have been more flexible had it made good on previous plans to order 160 new electric train cars, known as M9As, to run service into the new terminal.Federal reports show the train car order was already behind schedule in late 2016.
June came and went, and records show the MTA told the feds it might finalize the contract for the new rail cars by October 2019. Even at that late date, with the time it takes to manufacture and test train cars, they wouldn’t be ready to hit the tracks before April 2023, the feds noted. The new terminal may lure riders back to the LIRR. Last Tuesday, the railroad saw its second highest ridership since the pandemic began with 205,559 riders. That figure is still only 66% of pre-pandemic ridership and a fraction of the 3,766,431 subway riders the MTA reported the same day.
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