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Grand Central passageway opens to ease 7 train crowds – 1 year after priest’s blessing
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Feb 25, 2025
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Stephen Nessen
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Stephen Nessen
Published Feb 25, 2025
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The MTA has delivered a small transit miracle.
The agency opened a gleaming new $75 million passageway Tuesday that will ease crowding from the platform of the 7 train to the mezzanine of the Grand Central-42nd Street station – one year after a priest blessed the project. The walkway was completed on schedule and under budget.
The passageway was built using “controlled, low velocity explosions” through the notoriously hard Manhattan bedrock, the transit agency said. The trains kept running as the workers who make New York City’s tunnels, known as sandhogs, toiled below Midtown streets, creating the passageway.
Sandhogs drilled and blew up Midtown bedrock to build the passageway, without disrupting service.
Stephen Nessen
“ One thing that we hold dear is we don't disrupt a single commute unless it's absolutely necessary,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber said.
Lieber said 150,000 riders get off the 7 train each day at the station, about as many daily riders on San Francisco’s entire BART system.
The MTA leader reported the $75 million project came in about $10 million under budget and includes new lighting, freshly painted walls on the 7 train platform, 400 new fire alarms and 75 new light bulbs. The platform is notoriously crowded, particularly on Mets game days when baseball fans head to Citi Field aboard 7 trains.
Additionally, 7 train riders waiting on the Grand Central-42nd Street platform might notice something different when they look up.
“We deep-cleaned 25 years of grime off the ceiling,” said Jamie Torres-Springer, the MTA's construction chief.
In a video, the MTA showed controlled blasts resembling heavy-duty fireworks going off in a darkened tunnel. Torres-Springer said the idea came from one of the sandhogs on the project, who’d learned about it in a supplemental engineering class.
“ We looked at that. We made sure it was safe. We made sure it was vetted, but we adopted the technology,” Springer said.
The passageway is part of a larger project known as the “Grand Central-42 Street Circulations Improvement Project,” which will include new escalators and fare gates, as well as accessibility improvements to the 42nd Street-Bryant Park station. It is expected to be completed later this year.
Tagged
manhattan
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].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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