The station serves the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line,[8] which connects to all passenger branches and almost all stations.[9] Service started on January 25, 2023 with a shuttle to Jamaica station.[5] Full service at the station began on February 27, 2023, with trains continuing beyond Jamaica to most branches.[10][11]
Formal proposals to bring Long Island Rail Road trains to the east side of Manhattan date to 1963.[14] In 1968, the 63rd Street Tunnel and a LIRR "Metropolitan Transportation Center" at 48th Street and Third Avenue were proposed as part of the Program for Action.[15] After people living near the proposed transportation center objected, the MTA's board of directors voted to route LIRR trains to Grand Central by 1977.[16] However, the LIRR project was postponed indefinitely during the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis.[17]
The East Side Access project was restarted after a study in the 1990s showed that more than half of LIRR riders work closer to Grand Central than to Penn Station.[18] The cost of the project, estimated at $4.4 billion in 2004, jumped to $6.4 billion in 2006[19] and to $11.1 billion by 2017.[20][21] In May 2022, the MTA announced that the station would be named Grand Central Madison[22][23][24] because it sits under Grand Central Terminal and the "Madison Avenue corridor".[25]
Opening and early years
The LIRR received operational control of Grand Central Madison on December 9, 2022, upon which the station and tracks became subject to Federal Railroad Administration regulations.[26][27] A few weeks later, the MTA postponed the station's planned December 2022 opening because of a single ventilation fan that could not exhaust enough air.[28][29][30][31]
On January 23, 2023, officials said the station would open and revenue service would begin on January 25.[32][33][5] The initial service was a shuttle, known as Grand Central Direct, to and from Jamaica station, with some trains running express and others making intermediate stops at Woodside, Forest Hills, and Kew Gardens.[5] The MTA announced on February 8 that it would begin full service on February 27.[34] The Biltmore Connection to Grand Central Terminal's Biltmore Room opened in May 2023.[35] The MTA upgraded cellular service within the Grand Central Madison station and surrounding tunnels in late 2023.[36][37]
In early 2024, the MTA board voted to buy a battery-powered locomotive to serve as a "rescue locomotive" that could tow disabled passenger trains through the 63rd Street Tunnel.[38] The line had lacked one because the LIRR's locomotives could only fit through the larger East River Tunnels.[39] In March 2024, Tracks Raw Bar and Grill became the first commercial tenant to sign a lease at Grand Central Madison.[40] The following month, the MTA issued a formal request for proposals for the station's retail space.[41][42] The station was to have separate dining and retail areas.[41]
Parts of the station remained incomplete a year and a half after the station opened.[43][44] The MTA began looking for a contractor to finish the last portions of the station that August at a cost of up to $50 million.[44] In October, MTA and developer BXP began building a new entrance from the intersection of 45th Street and Madison Avenue, where BXP was erecting a new building.[45][46] At the time, the entrance was planned to be completed in 2026.[47][48] A waiting area also opened at the station in late 2024, near the 47th Street entrance.[49] In December, UNESCO gave its 2024 Prix Versailles Interior Award to Grand Central Madison, calling the station one of the world's most beautiful.[50] At the end of 2024, the storefronts at Grand Central Madison remained vacant, and Tracks Raw Bar and Grill had not yet opened.[51]
The MTA announced in February 2025 that it was no longer looking for a master tenant to take over the retail space at Grand Central Madison, since most of the station's retail space had been leased out.[52] Due to issues with the ventilation system,[53] the stores were not scheduled to open until 2026.[54]
The station has an area of 700,000sqft (65,000m2), including 120,000sqft (11,000m2) for passengers and 25,000sqft (2,300m2) of retail space.[55][56] There are 22 elevators in the station, which also has 47 escalators—more than in the rest of the LIRR.[57]
Concourse
The retail and dining concourse, called the Madison Concourse, is reached from street level or the Metro-North terminal via stairwells and elevators.[58] It sits at the same depth as the western part of Metro-North's Lower Level, underneath tracks 38 to 42 of Metro-North's Upper Level and Vanderbilt Avenue.[59] The concourse contains a ticket office, ticketed waiting area, nursing room, and customer-service office under 47th Street. It also has restrooms, ticket machines, and retail spaces throughout the concourse.[60] The only seating in the terminal is in the ticketed waiting area, which contains 29 seats; passengers can be fined $50 if they stay in the waiting area for more than 90 minutes. An MTA spokesperson said the rule was an extension of an existing restriction at Grand Central Terminal and that "a customer should not have to wait more than 90 minutes to catch their train, barring a significant service disruption".[61]
The LIRR terminal has entrances from Grand Central Terminal's Dining Concourse and Biltmore Room, and the MTA added new entrances to the LIRR station at 45th, 46th, and 48th streets.[62][63] In 2021, the 45th Street entrance alone was projected to serve 10,000 passengers per day.[64]
A mezzanine sits on a center level between the LIRR's two track levels.[58][65] It is more than 140ft (43m) deep below Park Avenue,[59] and is connected to the Concourse via four banks of escalators up to 180ft (55m) long and descend more than 90ft (27m) under 45th, 46th, 47th, and 48th Streets,[60][64] in which one of its largest has more than five escalators.[66] One of these escalators is also the longest escalator in the city.[67] The escalators and elevators are among the few which are privately operated in the entire MTA system.[57] Additionally, the tiling around the sets of escalators and lights in the mezzanine near each set of escalators exhibits a degree of color coordination, with the set under 45th Street's lighting and tiling in shades of light green, 46th Street's in shades of blue, 47th Street's in shades of purple and 48th Street's in shades of cyan.
Gallery
Escalator cavern connecting the concourse and mezzanine
Artwork at the mezzanine level
Track entrance from the mezzanine
Platforms and tracks
Lower level platforms viewed from the mezzanine
LIRR trains arrive and depart from the twin station caverns and through a tunnel located 140ft (43m) below Park Avenue and more than 90ft (27m) below the Metro-North tracks.[66][57][68]
The LIRR terminal contains four platforms and eight tracks (numbered 201–204 and 301–304) in two bi-level caverns.[69] There are four tracks and two platforms in each of the two caverns, with each cavern containing two tracks on one island platform per level.[58][65]
Exits
The MTA originally planned to build and open entrances at 44th, 45th, 47th, and 48th Streets.[70]:3[62][71]:5 The station connects to existing entrances at Grand Central North. The new LIRR station also contains entrances at 335 Madison Avenue, near the southeast corner with 44th Street; at 270 Park Avenue and 280 Park Avenue near 47th and 48th–49th Streets, respectively; and at 347 Madison Avenue, on the east side of the avenue at 45th Street. An entrance on 46th Street between Lexington and Park Avenue was also built, connecting with Grand Central North.[71]:5–6 However, the MTA later announced its intent to defer construction of an entrance at 48th Street because the owner of 415 Madison Avenue wanted to undertake a major construction project on the site.[71]:7 The MTA also connected the new station to the existing 47th Street cross-passage.[70]:3[62]
Another entrance with an elevator, a stair, and two staircases is being developed at 45th Street as of 2024[update].[47] Two entrances north of 47th Street are being planned as well.[46]
Like the art in the original Grand Central Terminal, the new station includes permanent site-specific works of art. Among them are five large glass mosaics on natural themes by Kiki Smith. The Madison Concourse level contains River Light, an 80ft-long (24m) abstract, largely blue-and-white depiction of sunshine on the East River.[72] The other four, one level down in the LIRR mezzanine, are: The Presence, a landscape with a deer; The Sound, a seascape with a gull; The Spring, featuring four turkeys; and The Water's Way, a beach scene. "I wanted places for people to say, 'Meet you by the deer'," Smith told the New York Times.[72]
The Madison Concourse level also holds an even larger 120ft-long (37m) mosaic by Yayoi Kusama: "A Message of Love, Directly from My Heart unto the Universe".[72]
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