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MTA Photos Show LIRR Work in Massive Caverns Under Grand Central
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 29, 2010
Modified Jan 29, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 29, 2010
Modified Jan 29, 2010
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In two caverns 150 feet deep below Grand Central Terminal, work is underway on a project to connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal. Contractors are removing enough dirt to fill 13,000 Olympic-sized pools, to make room for platforms and tracks underneath the lower level of Grand Central. And a new LIRR concourse is being built under Metro-North Railroad's upper level, which will provide commuters with 91,000 square feet of public space, including shops and pathways to Grand Central, the subway system and the street above. It's a big, difficult job, as the MTA explains:
One of the more intricate tasks of the program is the installation of structural steel columns to support Metro-North's upper level train shed and buildings in the vicinity of the Park Avenue corridor. This allows for the safe removal of the existing support columns, making room for the excavation of four escalator wellways to provide access between the concourse and the caverns where LIRR trains will come into the station in the future.
Underneath Park Avenue, workers are using two hard-rock tunnel boring machines to expand 32,000 linear feet of new tunnels, from the existing 63rd Street Tunnel down to 37th Street. All in all, the $8 billion "East Side Access" project is expected to cost $3 billion more than the Second Avenue Subway. Service might begin late in 2016, and the MTA says it will relieve congestion at Penn Station while reducing the commute for 180,000 daily riders by about 40 minutes, because those who work on the East Side of Manhattan can take LIRR straight there. (Here's a map of the future!)
There are more photos on the MTA's Facebook profile, and if you're into this sort of thing, don't miss this video of a Tunnel Boring Machine cutter head breaking through the 34th Street Station Cavern Wall, AR AR AR!
Tagged
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east side access
grand central terminal
lirr
MTA
photos
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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