First trains run to Grand Central East

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

The Long Island Rail Road will begin running trains into Grand Central Madison Wednesday as part of the MTA’s East Side Access Project following the postponement of the December 2022 opening that had been promised for at least fve years.

The frst train will leave Jamaica at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday and is expected to arrive at Grand Central Madison by 11:07 a.m., ofcials said. The ride will be the culmination of the $11.1 billion project that took 15 years to construct.

“People have been riding the railroad the same way for a long, long time now,” LIRR President Catherine Rinaldi told News 12. “This is going to provide a lot of options with respect to how people travel.”

In December the Metropolitan Transit Authority canceled the muchanticipated opening of the Grand Central Madison service, citing ventilation system problems and the need to conclude testing. The news was greeted with widespread disappointment and frustration.

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said a “counteracting air fow” prevented one of the exhaust systems in Grand

Central Terminal from pulling in enough air, causingdelays.

The new terminal will be able to handle increased capacity from the LIRR’s North Shore train stations as a result of continued express service on the Port Washington line and more commuters from the agency’s 3rd Track Project.

After proposing changes to the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington branch that would have eliminated express service as part of the East Side Access project, transit ofcials said they abandoned plans to do so in October.

Overall, the branch will receive an 11% boost in service, with more trains becoming available for commuters on the Port Washington Branch, according to the draft schedules following the agency’s announcement.

A total of 103 trains per day will be servicing the branch, 10 more than the current schedule has, ofcials said. On weekends, a total of fve more trains, 81 in total, will be operating along the branch.

The draft morning rush hour schedule includes 15 trains arriving in Manhattan between 6:16 a.m. and 9:51 a.m., a 36% increase from the

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