Governor Cuomo announces completion of major construction of East Side Access

A major LIRR project has been completed in New York.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo [last week] announced the completion of civil construction on East Side Access – the MTA’s megaproject connecting the Long Island Rail Road to a new 350,000-square-foot passenger terminal under Grand Central Terminal. This is the largest new train terminal to be built in the United States since the 1950s and the first expansion of the LIRR in more than 100 years. The new connection will double the LIRR’s capacity into Manhattan with up to 24 trains per hour and cut travel time for Queens commuters by 40 minutes per day.

“East Side Access is one of North America’s largest transportation projects–an audacious $11 billion idea changing the entire regional transportation system,” Governor Cuomo said. “Thanks to the hard work of the so many people, major construction on this transformative project is now complete and we are proud to announce East Side Access will open up next year–significantly cutting travel times and easing the commute into Manhattan for countless travelers. I’ve been through a lot of difficult infrastructure projects during my time in government, and while this project may have been one the most difficult to get accomplished, its completion will have a huge impact on New York’s economy and vibrancy for generations to come and serve as yet another example of what New Yorkers can do when we put our minds to something.”

“When I came to the MTA in 2018 one of my first actions was to do an in-depth review of East Side Access,” said Janno Lieber, President of MTA Construction & Development. “We doubled down on this project – expressing faith in its fundamentals but overhauling the way we were pursuing it. In the past, when challenges were encountered, the answer was to push back the project completion date. We put an end to that and committed this project would be completed in 2022 as had been promised. Today’s announcement is an affirmation that our approach is working.”

For more information about the completion of this project, visit MTA’s website.

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