LTE: Grand Central Madison One Year Later

Grand Central Madison One Year Later

There is still much to do one year after the opening of Grand Central Madison that was omitted from the MTA ceremony celebration. 

How many of the original 73 East Side Access contracts has the MTA completed inspection and acceptance, punch list, receipt of maintenance asset plans resulting in final payment and release of retainage resulting in contract closeout? What is their collective dollar value?

How much of the $600 million in debt service payments buried in the agency operating budget which covered project costs are still outstanding? The same applies to several hundred million more in debt service payments that financed  

$4 billion worth of LIRR readiness projects to support start of full service in February 2023. They are carried off line from the official project budget.  These include the $2.6 billion Main Line Third Track, $450 million Jamaica Capacity Improvements, $387 million Ronkonkoma Double Track, $120 million Ronkonkoma Yard Expansion, $44 million Great Neck Pocket Track, $423 million for rail car fleet expansion.  Without these, the LIRR would lack the expanded operational capabilities to support  promised 24 rush hour train service to GCM and 40% increase in reverse peak rush hour service.  Honest accounting would include these other expenditures bringing the true cost of ESA to $16.1 billion.

How many of the original 73 East Side Access contracts are still open? What is their number and collective dollar value?

How many thousands of the original promised daily ridership projection has not been achieved?  This goes for the reverse peak as well.

Why does Grand Central Madison still not provide 24/7 service as does Penn Station?

Grand Central Madison still 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 still only one waiting room located on the Madison Concourse. It has 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 continues to be nonexistent except for a handful of garbage cans at the platform level.  There are few options to dispose of waste at either the mezzanine or Madison concourse levels. This conflicts with MTA’s claim to be environmentally friendly.  

There are still no open newsstands.  These services are readily available in  Metro North Rail Road Grand Central Terminal, Penn and Jamaica Stations. 

There are 11 Ticket Vending Machines still waiting to be installed. It appears that the designed space is not wide enough to accommodate standard LIRR TVM’s. 

All the facility storefronts still stand vacant.  The original completion date was 2011. Full time service began in February 2023. MTA Real Estate had years to find tenants for the 32 vacant storefronts.  MTA Real Estate has yet to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find a master tenant to manage all 32 vacant storefronts. When will this take place?

The MTA Arts & Design recent announcement that they are presenting a selection of works from photographer Stephen Wilkes’ “Day to Night” series of famous New York landmarks at this facility is of little value to most commuters  Some advertising posters would be better and generate some badly needed revenue..  

Transparency on the part of Governor Hochul, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber and LIRR President Richard Free in sharing with commuters, taxpayers, transit advocates and elected officials in dealing with these remaining open issues is required.

Sincerely,

Larry Penner

(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 NJ Transit, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NYC Transit bus, subway and Staten Island Railway, Long Island and Metro North Rail Roads, MTA Bus, NYCDOT Staten Island Ferry along with 30 other transit agencies in NY & NJ.).,