Guest Lance Posted May 8, 2012 Share #1 Posted May 8, 2012 Lhota tells LIA no East Side Access until 2019 Speaking before the Long Island Association on Tuesday morning, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Joseph Lhota said plans to add Long Island Rail Road access to Grand Central Station has hit problems, pushing back estimations of its opening until at least 2019. “We were originally looking at 2018, but the most recent analyses puts the opening at 2019,” Lhota said. “I don’t want to see it go past 2019.” The problem with East Side Access isn’t digging below Grand Central Station, where “cavernous tunnels” have been carved out, but on the Queens side of the project. Tunneling underneath the Queens rail yard near Jamaica, where trains from Amtrak and Acela are stored in addition to MTA’s own vehicles, has become an issue. Contaminated soil languishes and must be disposed of properly, and unlike closer to the water, the ground is soft rather than rocky. Lhota said workers have also run into springs and brooks that nobody knew existed below the surface. The MTA has brought in experts from Europe to help with developing a plan going forward. The East Side Access plan is the first major expansion of the railroad system in 100 years, Lhota said, noting that upon completion, it would shave an estimated 40 minutes off commuting time for Long Islanders who work on the East Side of Manhattan and would increase capacity of the Long Island Rail Road by 41 percent. “There are 800,000 people per day that go through Penn Station,” Lhota said. “And 60 percent of those are Long Island Rail Road riders. East Side Access should relieve a lot of that burden.” Once it is determined how much of an impact East Side Access has on Penn Station, Lhota said the MTA may look at having the MTA’s Metro North railroad come to Penn Station. Currently only the Long Island Rail Road Amtrak and New Jersey PATH Transit lines run at Penn Station – the country’s largest train station. Courtesy: John Callegari, Long Island Business News Funny, I thought they were digging over at and near the Sunnyside Yards, not near the Jamaica station. Learn something new, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted May 8, 2012 Share #2 Posted May 8, 2012 2019 for an opening? Fair or not the is rarely ever on time for any major subway or LIRR/Metro North projects. Only credit that seem to be deserved is that the extension to 12th Avenue seems to be 'on time." Still a blow consdering how overcrowded LIRR trains are to Penn Station. Dumb Question. Until the GCT extension is done why cant the try commericals/ad campaign to encourage more LIRR riders to use the Atlantic Terminal branches to connect to the for access to Lower Manhattan? On few times I been on the Atlantic Ave trains i.e Hempstead/Far Rockaway lines especially during non-rush hours, there almost always plenty of seats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lance Posted May 9, 2012 Share #3 Posted May 9, 2012 That seems like a roundabout way to get into the city, especially for someone coming all the way from Eastern Nassau or Suffolk County. That's an easy suggestion if say, you were coming from Jamaica, Queens (although, I'd hop on the train for Manhattan access), but for someone coming from, let's say Hempstead since that was your example, you're making an hour-long trip even longer since said rider would have to take the subway to get to lower Manhattan. Besides, the idea behind ESA is to bring the LIRR to the East Side of Manhattan. It has nothing to do with lower Manhattan, even if that is some people's final destinations in their commutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted May 9, 2012 Share #4 Posted May 9, 2012 Courtesy: John Callegari, Long Island Business News Funny, I thought they were digging over at and near the Sunnyside Yards, not near the Jamaica station. Learn something new, no? That was my understanding as well. I recorded Transit Transit a few weeks ago while I was out and watched it recently and they showed the project taking shape and they were supposedly digging near Long Island City. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterious2train Posted May 9, 2012 Share #5 Posted May 9, 2012 Disappointed, but I guess if this delay is for the better it has to be done. On the topic of getting to Lower Manhattan, it doesn't really matter whether Atlantic Terminal or Penn Station. From Jamaica, the typical LIRR trip takes about the same time to either terminal. And a trip on the and to Lower Manhattan takes roughly the same time from either place. Going through Penn Station might be slightly faster. Slightly. It probably looks better due to being in Manhattan and already being in one of the Central Business Districts. The fact that it has a lot more service than Atlantic Terminal doesn't hurt either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1447 Posted May 9, 2012 Share #6 Posted May 9, 2012 2019 for an opening? Fair or not the is rarely ever on time for any major subway or LIRR/Metro North projects. Only credit that seem to be deserved is that the extension to 12th Avenue seems to be 'on time." Still a blow consdering how overcrowded LIRR trains are to Penn Station. Dumb Question. Until the GCT extension is done why cant the try commericals/ad campaign to encourage more LIRR riders to use the Atlantic Terminal branches to connect to the for access to Lower Manhattan? On few times I been on the Atlantic Ave trains i.e Hempstead/Far Rockaway lines especially during non-rush hours, there almost always plenty of seats. Thing is, people want direct access to the Manhattan Central District. Not end in Brooklyn and head and use the Subway. Now if the price were lower thru the Atlantic ROW, then maybe it ill encourage some folks as an alternative. Just like using NJT to Newark Penn for the PATH. Plus with people using the Atlantic Terminal, I'm sure that ill cause a bit more of passenger traffic to increase over the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeystoneRegional Posted May 9, 2012 Share #7 Posted May 9, 2012 Well... Well... Well... Another delay eh? As for spreading commuters, I don't think it'll work because ridership will not be going up until Barclay Center is complete 100% and during Nets Games, perhaps even only game days things will be up, otherwise people will continue to use Penn Station since it's convenient, and has a lot of shops few steps away as opposed to Brooklyn where you have to travel few flights up to access stores. I personally only used Atlantic Terminal once and that's to get to a dinner with family out in Nassau County, I find myself using Penn much more than Brooklyn simply cuz of the stuff I described. Oh by the way, the LIRR City Main Line also have better scenery so heck people will want to see more trees and the skyline of a day's worth of work disappear in the distance as opposed to seeing blocks of concrete and ghetto pass by, just sayin'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VWM Posted May 9, 2012 Share #8 Posted May 9, 2012 I have a picture for this moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDTA Posted June 1, 2012 Share #9 Posted June 1, 2012 I would much rather see this be in service a year late, than have it collapse in a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4P3607 Posted June 1, 2012 Share #10 Posted June 1, 2012 and what's next, to west side not until 2025? why does the MTA always have to be late on capital projects? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilbluefoxie Posted June 2, 2012 Share #11 Posted June 2, 2012 and what's next, to west side not until 2025? why does the MTA always have to be late on capital projects? its all politics and stuff, they gotta bid on teh contractor, then get a million different permits, and then deal with community opposition, and then they run into snags, and all this stuff delays them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysterious2train Posted June 2, 2012 Share #12 Posted June 2, 2012 Ironic given the subject matter, but I guess here's the best place to post it: On Tuesday, May 29, crews working on the MTA's East Side Access project brought a 642-ton tunnel boring machine to a halt underneath Sunnyside Yard in Queens seven weeks ahead of schedule, completing the third of four tunnels the MTA is building in Queens. The machine, named Tess in March 2011 by sixth graders from I.S. 204 in Long Island City, will be temporarily entombed underground until the tunnel can be connected to the busy LIRR Main Line tracks above it. Full article on the MTA's site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted June 4, 2012 Share #13 Posted June 4, 2012 its all politics and stuff, they gotta bid on teh contractor, then get a million different permits, and then deal with community opposition, and then they run into snags, and all this stuff delays them they should ban community opposition to projects involving change to land a company owns. meaning MTA owning the tracks they should be able to extend and do whatever they want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GojiMet86 Posted June 4, 2012 Share #14 Posted June 4, 2012 they should ban community opposition to projects involving change to land a company owns. meaning MTA owning the tracks they should be able to extend and do whatever they want That's not exactly democratic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VWM Posted June 5, 2012 Share #15 Posted June 5, 2012 That's not exactly democratic... Robert Moses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted August 3, 2012 Share #16 Posted August 3, 2012 Does anyone know how east side access is going to work? Here are the scenarios I see 1) all trains stop at GCT then at Penn 2) transfer at jamaica (but then port Washington line doesn't get east side access) 3) some trains are scheduled to go to GCT instead of Penn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted August 5, 2012 Share #17 Posted August 5, 2012 Does anyone know how east side access is going to work? Here are the scenarios I see 1) all trains stop at GCT then at Penn 2) transfer at jamaica (but then port Washington line doesn't get east side access) 3) some trains are scheduled to go to GCT instead of Penn Not meant to be rude but honestly lets wait until 6 months before it opens and then offical guess. Plus LIRR ridership patterns in 2018-'19 could be slightly different than now. With that said Shadow i try to guess and answer your question. I only now ride the LIRR couple of times and I am sure someone like Foxie, Amtrak or Pinepower could better answer. This is a guess based on today (summer 2012) patterns. 1)All Long Beach West Hempstead(weekdays only) and Far Rockaway trains. 2)Half of Babylon, Huntington and Ronkonkoma trains. (other 1/2 to Penn)and peak hour/Mets game Pt Washington service. 3)Almost all Pt Washington would still go to Penn to avoid reduant service with service. Also Hempstead-Brooklyn(Atlantic Terminal)would remain the same. Feel free guys to correct me but that how a GCT-LIRR service would work based on 2012 ridership patterns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
checkmatechamp13 Posted August 5, 2012 Share #18 Posted August 5, 2012 Does anyone know how east side access is going to work? Here are the scenarios I see 1) all trains stop at GCT then at Penn 2) transfer at jamaica (but then port Washington line doesn't get east side access) 3) some trains are scheduled to go to GCT instead of Penn It'll be option 3. There isn't going to be any direct connection between GCT & Penn, so that's out. I'm not sure what you mean by transfer at Jamaica (unless you're basically rephrasing Option 3, which is that if you want a GCT train and your train's headed to Penn, you'll have to transfer). Basically, some LIRR trains will be routed into Grand Central, resulting in fewer trains (and more available capacity) at Penn Station. But there will be more trains running on the LIRR overall. The available capacity at Penn would likeoy be used for some sort of Metro-North service (coming from the New Haven Line or Hudson Line) into Penn Station. Not meant to be rude but honestly lets wait until 6 months before it opens and then offical guess. Plus LIRR ridership patterns in 2018-'19 could be slightly different than now. Not meant to be rude, but you should've re-read the question. He wasn't asking which branches would go where. He was just asking for a general idea of how the trains would travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted August 5, 2012 Share #19 Posted August 5, 2012 The MTA has said that with the opening of ESA, the century-old practice of timed, held connections at Jamaica will be abolished. Brooklyn trains will run to GCT, with a dedicated Jamaica-Brooklyn scoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted August 5, 2012 Share #20 Posted August 5, 2012 The MTA has said that with the opening of ESA, the century-old practice of timed, held connections at Jamaica will be abolished. Brooklyn trains will run to GCT, with a dedicated Jamaica-Brooklyn scoot. We shall see. With that said, with Brooklyn growing as a gentrifed area, at least one branch preferably the Hempstead line should still run between Atlantic Terminal and Hempstead in addition to the 'scoot' aka shutltle. Not to mention a few Babylon trains at least during weekdays as well to GCT IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted August 6, 2012 Share #21 Posted August 6, 2012 We shall see. With that said, with Brooklyn growing as a gentrifed area, at least one branch preferably the Hempstead line should still run between Atlantic Terminal and Hempstead in addition to the 'scoot' aka shutltle. Not to mention a few Babylon trains at least during weekdays as well to GCT IMO. There will be more through service to GCT than the current trains to Brooklyn, all they said was that trains currently running to Brooklyn would be diverted to GCT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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