There continues to be significant ongoing issues overlooked by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman Janno Lieber and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) President Catherine Renaldi upon the full-time opening of the LIRR East Side Access service to Grand Central Madison on Feb. 27. All continue to be in denial of the real cost for this project when you add $11.6 billion (plus $1 billion debt service payments and $4 billion in directly related LIRR readiness projects) comes to $16.6 billion.
The new Grand Central Madison has only two men's bathroom with a total of 18 urinals and 13 toilets, two women's bathroom with a total of 25 toilets, one lactation room and two gender neutral bathrooms, each with a single capacity all located on the Madison Concourse. There are none on the lower or upper level platforms and mezzanine.
There is only one waiting room located on the Madison Concourse, with only 29 seats and seven stools for Wi-Fi connections to serve riders. There are no other seating options on the platform and mezzanine levels while waiting.
Options for recycling newspapers or beverage containers, disposal of garbage or other waste appear non existent except for a handful of garbage cans at the platform level. There is no way to dispose of waste at either the mezzanine or Madison concourse levels. This conflicts with MTA's claim to be environmentally friendly.
There are no open newsstands. These services are readily available in the adjacent Metro-North Rail Road Grand Central Terminal, Penn and Jamaica Stations.
There are 11 ticket vending machines (TVMs) still waiting to be installed. It appears the designed space is not wide enough to accommodate standard LIRR TVMs.
There is one escalator bank between 43rd and 44th St. at the south end of Madison Concourse yet to open.
A significant portion of the lighting is the old style florescent bulb rather than the newer more efficient and environmentally friendly LED.
MTA Real Estate is responsible for leasing 25 available retail spaces. No retail space is open. How many months of lost revenue will be incurred until all retail space is occupied? There are no provisions for advertising billboards or signage, which could generate income.
Due to insufficient height clearance in the 63rd St. tunnel, the LIRR fleet of 23 diesel-electric and 23 duel-mode locomotives, along with 134 double decker passenger cars, are unable to access Grand Central Madison. Thousands of riders from diesel territory are denied a one seat ride to Grand Central Madison.
LIRR Grand Central Madison, just like Metro North Grand Central Terminal, continues to be closed overnight from 2 a.m. to 5:15 a.m. This contrasts with LIRR providing customers with 24/7 service at Penn Station. There are critical service gaps, as no LIRR trains to or from Grand Central Madison between 3 a.m. to five hours overnight on weekdays and weekends depending upon which station and branch you are boarding.
Timed transfers for connections at Jamaica, Queens Station between Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal bound trains have been eliminated. Trains frequently will now no longer wait for connections between Penn Station and Grand Central Madison. .
The MTA and LIRR may be considering reducing the length of trains along with canceling trains as one way to deal with the multi-billion dollar, multi-year budget deficit. Will this reduce the new 24-hour rush hour service to Grand Central Madison (40 percent overall service increases, including reverse peak, along with new 30 minute off peak service on Ronkonkoma and West Hempstead branches)? It appears the MTA and LIRR may give and take away new services.
Without another multi-billion dollar Albany bailout, the proposed 2023 5.5 percent increase to fares may be even higher. The cost of borrowing for financing ESA is $1 billion. Debt service costs are buried under a separate agency operating budget.
How many of the 72 ESA contracts have been closed as of Feb. 27, 2023, including which open contracts needing completion of all contract punch list items (to insure the contractors built the asset to meet design and engineering contract specifications), receipt of all asset maintenance manuals for any project components worth $5,000 or more under each of the remaining open contracts, payments for outstanding bills and release of contract retainage to contractors.
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Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously served as a former director for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office of Operations and Program Management. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions in capital projects and programs for New Jersey Transit, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NYC Transit bus, subway and Staten Island Railway, Long Island and Metro North railroads, MTA Bus, NYCDOT Staten Island Ferry along with 30 other transit agencies in New York and New Jersey.
