East Side Access

Opened to the public in February 1913, Grand Central Terminal is a story of great engineering, survival, and rebirth. In 1978, architect Philip Johnson and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis secured landmark status for the Terminal, ensuring the building would serve New Yorkers for generations to come. One of the…

While we’re on the topic of interlockings… You may think East Side Access is only about building tunnels and tracks and a new concourse at Grand Central Terminal so we can get our trains from Queens to the east side of Manhattan. While that’s partly true, the East Side Access…

Signaling hardware installation in the tunnels being constructed for East Side Access has now begun – the first signal head and signal case mock-up is being installed in the 63rd Street tunnel that will connect LIRR trains traveling to and from Manhattan with Queens. The signal head is fully installed,…

The original plan for the future LIRR passenger concourse included the same Botticino marble you see throughout Grand Central Terminal (GCT), but before the design of the concourse was finalized the project management team took a closer look at the stone choices for the concourse and decided the new concourse…

Harold Interlocking is the busiest passenger rail junction in North America – it handles more than 780 train movements per day from Amtrak, LIRR, NJ Transit and the New York & Atlantic Railway. As part of the East Side Access (ESA) project, track, signal, communications and power systems are being…

Penn Station, one of the busiest transportation hubs in the U.S., is undergoing a massive transformation from its easternmost edge at 7th Avenue with East End Gateway to its westernmost edge at 9th Avenue with Moynihan Train Hall. Work on the new East End Gateway has been underway since September….

The East Side Access “Tunnel D” Approach Structure is now complete. Tunnel D, which will serve as the primary outbound route from Grand Central Terminal to Long Island, connects at the newly-built Plaza Interlocking in Queens to the Main Line 2 and 4 tracks in Harold Interlocking, the busiest rail…

The MTA has completed a significant and difficult portion of work for the East Side Access project at Harold Interlocking in Queens, the busiest rail junction in the United States. Earlier this year two crucial sections of mainline track were rebuilt and existing infrastructure upgraded while the Long Island Railroad…

In a remarkable feat of engineering, two massive load transfers were recently completed at the East Side Access project to create space for two future entrances on the 8-track LIRR terminal and concourse being built on the lower track level of Grand Central Terminal. Below 45th Street, crews placed the…