LIRR Terminal in Midtown Manhattan Named

By Hamodia Staff

The new Long Island Rail Road terminal under construction in Midtown is going to be called “Grand Central Madison”, Governor Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday. The large, 700,00 square foot project is being built underneath Grand Central and the Madison Avenue corridor, and is set to be opened before the end of the year.

The $11.1 billion terminal represents the largest expansion of the LIRR since 1910, as well as the biggest terminal built in the U.S. since the 1950s, and is designed to connect the LIRR to Manhattan’s East Side.

“This is an exciting, historic moment for New York State, Long Island, and the MTA as New Yorkers are just months away from being able to seamlessly ride a train between East Midtown and Long Island,” Governor Hochul said.

The opening of Grand Central Madison, along with a new third track on the LIRR Main Line that is on schedule to open in 2022, will allow the LIRR to increase service systemwide by a staggering 40 percent on morning peak service; afternoon/evening rush hour trains would increase by nearly 65 percent, and reverse peak service would also increase thanks to the new terminal and the LIRR Main Line Expansion Project (Third Track). Reverse peak service would dramatically improve to Ronkonkoma, Huntington and all intermediate stops, as well as from Brooklyn, where service to Jamaica is increasing

Grand Central Madison will reduce passenger congestion at Penn Station, affording the chance for trains from Metro-North Railroad to enter later this decade.

Constraints that have long stifled LIRR capacity area are being lifted thanks to a near doubling of track capacity to Manhattan, a third track on the LIRR Main Line, and the opening of Grand Central Madison.

In Brooklyn, trains will run approximately every 12 minutes in both directions during peak hours and every 20 minutes during off-peak hours for an overall 28 percent increase in daily trains. Every train will make stops at Nostrand Avenue and East New York. Most Brooklyn trains will originate and terminate at Jamaica using the new Platform F, but the LIRR will retain some through service with peak and off-peak trains on the West Hempstead Branch and peak trains on the Babylon and Hempstead Branches. Most customers on the Far Rockaway and Hempstead Branches, whose trains currently primarily serve Brooklyn, will now have direct service to Manhattan all day.