(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Top Comments: Infrastructure Improvements Delays Edition [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-01-10
Something new is coming to Grand Central
Going back to the 1950s, there has been a drive to bring LIRR service to Grand Central. By having east side access for the many LI commuters, it will relieve the congestion at Penn Station (though this has been somewhat mitigated by the new Moynihan Train Hall) and provide faster access to the East Side of Manhattan. Without easy access to the east side, travelers have to take a subway to Times Square and catch the Shuttle to Grand Central to easily access the east side subway lines or catch a Metro-North train to Connecticut. This can easily add 30 or more minutes to a travel should you want to exclusively use public transportation (buses are worse than subways).
An option I use is to exit the LIRR at Jamaica Station and take either the E or F train if I am going to midtown or the J train if I am going downtown. While this is an easy journey, it still takes roughly 40-50 minutes and you risk subway delays that would be less likely going into Penn.
The original attempt for the project was formalized in 1969 but the 1975 NYC fiscal crisis scuttled those plans for a couple of decades. The idea was picked back up in the mid-90s and a new plan was finalized and in 1999 the Federal Transit Administration approved the funding for the project. After the 9/11 attack, the plan was supposed have been fast tracked to be completed by 2009.
They blew through this deadline pretty quickly as construction of the tunnels didn’t begin in earnest until 2008. In October, 2012 Superstorm Sandy devastated the area causing more construction delays. It’s not worth giving the number of times they released a supposed completion date for the project as much of the construction continued into 2022. During the pandemic, it was revealed the new station, now called Grand Central Madison, would open by New Year’s Day 2023 much like Moynihan Train Hall opened on New Year’s Day 2021.
With about a month left until opening day for the station, they realized it would not be fully complete by New Year’s Day and the MTA decided to run shuttle trains to and from Jamaica Station to at least provide some access for weary travelers. Unfortunately, a week prior to the opening, they found a faulty exhaust fan which is why the station still remains closed as of the writing of this diary.
Delays are not the only issue with the project. Originally slated to cost $3.5 billion, the project’s cost has ballooned to more than $11 billion making it the most expensive project of its type in the world.
When will the station open? I have no idea. I had planned on using the new station to travel on Metro-North to Connecticut later this month, but it is likely I will have to postpone my trip. I could use Amtrak out of Penn, but Amtrak costs 4-10x as much as Metro-North. I’d rather use that money to enjoy my trip.
Next week I may write a bit about the history of the LIRR. It is kind of interesting. Tonight’s question: do you enjoy train travel?
Diarist reserves all rights to his original writing only. Community material is not covered by this ©
Now a word from out sponsor and onto the Tops!
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Top Comments for January 19, 2023
clu
TOP MOJO January 9, 2023
First comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES January 9, 2023
Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you to the wonderful dKos staff who made it possible to continue this feature in memory of jotter!
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/10/2146545/-Top-Comments-Infrastructure-Improvements-Delays-Edition
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
