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  • The East Side Access Project Discussion (ESA)

  • Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.
Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1486396  by Head-end View
 
Yeah, very interesting video. I especially liked the picture of what Mineola Station is expected to look like with the third track, at approx 7:35 in the video. I understand space is limited but LIRR is going to wish it would have built platform access to the middle track. :(
 #1488391  by njtmnrrbuff
 
When East Side Access is completed, it will open up many doors for those who work on the East Side closer to Grand Central Terminal. I believe that there are several law firms that are much closer to Grand Central Terminal than to Penn Station. Not just for the sake of jobs, but sightseeing, for those people who are visiting museums on the Upper East Side, it will just be a matter of taking one subway ride to GCT.

When LIRR starts running to Grand Central Terminal, does anyone know what will be the approximate percentage of trains that will stop serving Grand Central Terminal? When trains are rerouted to Grand Central, this will help enable the MTA to add Metro North stations along Amtrak's Hellgate Line and start running Metro North trains to NYP, helping reduce the commute for many people who live in the East Bronx, especially Co-op City who need to go to Manhattan.
 #1495080  by Jeff Smith
 
Looks like some track is laid, as well as third rail: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
...
On a recent morning, MTA officials led a walking and stair-climbing tour to showcase progress on the unfinished, cavern-like terminal with ceilings as high as six stories. Dozens of high-speed escalators are being built to lead down to a 350,000-square-foot (32,516-square-meter) LIRR concourse with marble already laid on its walls and space reserved for retail shops and dining areas.

It will be the hub for 8 miles (13 kilometers) of new tunnels blasted and drilled out from 400 million-year-old bedrock, winding their way under Park Avenue and the East River and on to Queens and Long Island.

It is all focused on alleviating some of the pain for about 150,000 LIRR commuters who must somehow get to and from Grand Central every day. Currently, they have to joust, push and elbow their way to platforms at crowded Penn Station, which also accommodates Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains, adding up to 40 minutes to their daily commutes.
...
Lieber says he is focused on hitting the Dec. 31, 2022, deadline.
...
 #1496396  by tahawus84
 
I commute from port Jeff to hunters point daily. I work next to grand central station and I feel this project is a waste of money. I would rather have seen the money get put into improving hunterspoint Ave station and the 7 train service. A new hunterspoint Ave station with a better connection to the 7 train without going over the bridge would have been more useful and cheaper.
 #1497168  by NIMBYkiller
 
This project takes people off the 7 though which is jam packed and will only get worse with the continued growth of LIC and Flushing. The overall transit network needs expansion to accommodate the increasing population so this is a huge step in the right direction.
 #1497450  by njtmnrrbuff
 
That is very true about Eastside Access helping take off pressure from the 7 train. It's going to be a huge benefit for a person who lives in Nassau County and works near Grand Central Terminal to just stay on the LIRR while having a slightly more direct route as opposed to getting off on the Westside and then having to walk or subway.
 #1497606  by freightguy
 
NJtmnrrbuff,

Granted it’s a one seat ride, but I certainly don’t see how it’s going to save 40 minutes. Sometimes during prime commuting hours can make it to GCT from penn in like 8/9 minutes. That puts you almost at street level too near 42nd. I’m honestly worried about what LIRR employees used to call the minutemen(last minute commuters). That’s going to be some fall rushing down those escalators to make it all the down to the LIRR concourse in GCT. Just my opinion.
 #1497633  by Head-end View
 
It'll probably be no worse than all the PATH commuters descending all those levels below the street to the WTC platforms. Earlier on I had some concerns about the new GCT platforms being so far below grade. Then I remembered that I never had a problem with PATH at WTC being so far down, even in the pre-9/11 Terminal. :-D
 #1501811  by daybeers
 
Herring wrote:Project to be done by 2022 :-)
I'll be retired by then.
Why is it still 3 years away? Mannnn...f the U.S.
SRich wrote:Even thru a VPN i can't acces the link can you post a fair quote ?
What VPN are you using? I use NordVPN and can access it just fine.
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