Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Grand Central Madison is closed, but the MTA is running empty trains there anyway
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Jan 18, 2023
Modified Jan 18, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Steve Pfost/Getty Images
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Jan 18, 2023
Modified Jan 18, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The MTA is running trains into the gleaming new Long Island Rail Road station beneath Grand Central Terminal – but the public isn’t allowed aboard.
An internal MTA memo obtained by Gothamist shows that on Jan. 11 the LIRR operated 40 empty trains in or out of the station, dubbed Grand Central Madison. MTA officials said the LIRR regularly tests the new service by running trains without riders.
Gerard Bringmann, an MTA board member, said he was told the agency plans to do another “dress rehearsal” of full service on Thursday with no riders aboard. MTA representatives declined to confirm the plan.
The MTA previously planned to open the station by the end of 2022, a deadline set after years of construction delays. The project was originally scheduled to wrap up in 2011.
“I’ll be retired before it happens,” said LIRR rider Kevin Brosnan, 60, after getting off a train at Penn Station.
Brosnan, who lives in Farmingdale and works on the Upper East Side, said the new service could save him an hour of commuting time per workday. “I'll believe it when it’s there, we’ve been hearing this for years,” he said.
The empty service on Jan. 11 was a dry run for what the MTA calls Grand Central Direct, a shuttle with up to two trains an hour between the new Midtown station and Jamaica Terminal. MTA officials announced the service last month as a temporarily truncated version of full service into the new station, which is slated to run up to 24 trains per hour.
But the debut hasn’t happened yet due to a problem with the ventilation system at Grand Central Madison.
The ghost trains are regularly running into the new station while LIRR riders wait for the MTA to fix the problem. The MTA has said the empty trains are used for training workers on the new tracks and terminal.
“Test trains that run sporadically are designed to familiarize staff with new tunnels, signals and related infrastructure,” MTA spokesperson David Steckel wrote in a statement.
Bringmann — who represents LIRR riders on the MTA board — said it’s good that the agency is running safety tests.
"While I'm disappointed with the ventilation issue that's holding up the opening of Grand Central Madison, when it comes to the MTA taking a PR hit versus the safety of our riders, it's a no brainer,” said Bringmann. “Rest assured, the responsible party for this delay, be it the contractor or the mechanical engineer, will be held accountable.”
When full train service to Grand Central Madison opens the MTA plans to boost LIRR train service by 41%.
To prepare, agency officials said the LIRR has hired 207 new workers. There are now 2,500 workers in total trained to operate service into the new terminal — all of whom had to learn how to run trains in the new tunnels and into the new terminal, officials said.
The project — which federal records show costs $11.6 billion, a figure that includes plans to purchase train cars for the service — promises “a new experience” for commuters. But so far the MTA hasn’t said when that experience will be available. While the project has been in the works for more than 20 years, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber last week promised it would be days and weeks, not months, until the service opens.
“It’s a little frustrating, I wish there was an actual opening date,” said LIRR rider Jessica Findlayter, 26, who commutes from Nassau County. She said the new station’s opening would save her two-and-a-half hours a day because her office is next to Grand Central Terminal. The new service would also keep her from paying two subway fares a day to get from Penn Station to Manhattan's East Side.
“I could wake up a little later, maybe make breakfast at home,” she said.
UPDATE: This story was updated with the MTA's reasoning for running empty trains and the project's cost estimate reported by the federal government.
Tagged
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .