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The_Lone_Apple t1_j5uamkm wrote

Stand to the right. Walk to the left.

150

awalk3r t1_j5v1qyr wrote

Criss-cross

49

honest86 t1_j5vanyo wrote

Cha Cha real smooth

30

Sad-Principle3781 t1_j5xu5dn wrote

It would've been cheaper and more efficient to build a pedestrian tunnel connecting the two stations instead.

−2

TeamMisha t1_j5urg9z wrote

I still can't believe it is actually open and even has trains lol. This is 10+ years in the making right? I toured it today, clean and spacious, the depth is annoying of course, think the escalator up without walking is almost a minute long. Platforms are nice design as well, they have no columns on the platform so you have plenty of space to wait unlike at Penn

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SerKikato t1_j5v28v2 wrote

The concept was proposed in March 1954 and backed by a $658 million construction program. In 1963 the idea to add an LIRR track to the GCT-Queens connection was proposed, and construction began in 1969.

The MTA was only able to complete about 2/3rds of the tunnel before the financial crisis of 1975 put an end to ESA.

In 1997 Senator Al D'Amato asked for federal funds to complete the project. In 1999 the MTA proposed $17 Billion to capital projects with $1.6 Billion going to East Side Access. The idea was that it would complete within 10 years.

The rejuvenated project flew through red tape relatively quickly, with the final plan approved in 2002 and the land acquired in 2003. After finally getting funds approved and choosing their contractor in 2006, construction resumed in 2007 once the new boring machines arrived.

From 2007 till now, ESA was under construction. Total time from first being proposed to the public until opening was 69 years and 10 months. Time from first shovel dig to opening was 53 years and 4 months. Time from the its 2007 restart until opening was 15 years and 4 months.

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malefootlover1 t1_j5x9xnv wrote

wow!!! I like the original station it is not so white like it is now. It is very bright!!!!

9

Biglolo3537 t1_j5yt2sb wrote

Sucks that it's worked out that way but it's beautiful.

1

carpy22 t1_j5uv6ah wrote

More like 50+ years in the making. The LIRR uses the lower level of the 63rd Street Tunnel, directly under the F.

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pathwaysthrow t1_j5v200p wrote

Yeah way longer than that, they tried and gave up multiple times since the 50's on this. It's great it finally got done.

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colfer2 t1_j5w1z6s wrote

Maybe the location between 45th and 48th is more annoying than the depth. Street entrances are at 44th, 47th and 48th, escalators at 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th. The wheelchair route is between 46th and 47th from the tunnel under Vanderbilt Avenue. https://new.mta.info/map/24956

That tunnel looks small to handle a 50% increase in LIRR service. Is that what 50% means, that many trains to GCM?

2

TeamMisha t1_j5wdny1 wrote

> Is that what 50% means, that many trains to GCM?

My understanding is originally they assumed 50% of current Penn-bound commuters would want to go to GCM so they could basically divert half the trains. I don't know what the final schedules are, I think they are being posted this week. I believe they do not have the crew and equipment to add a net 50% increase in service, i.e. 50% + existing to Penn, instead they will split service between the two.

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Lonewolf5333 t1_j5v0i9t wrote

This isn’t authentic unless at least one escalator is out.

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azspeedbullet t1_j5udyqk wrote

is this deeper then hudson yards?

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seejordan3 t1_j5ued51 wrote

63rd st. On the upper west is the deepest. Gotta get below the river!

Edit: 191st! I stand corrected!

7

jay5627 t1_j5ui27o wrote

Upper West or Upper East?

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anObscurity t1_j5wjial wrote

They must have meant east. There is no 63rd street station on UWS

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Strawbalicious t1_j5uagin wrote

What did you think of it? I like that it's new and clean, but also thought it was a pretty long walk from Grand Central to get to the platforms.

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mrturdferguson OP t1_j5uayrb wrote

I audibly chuckled when the doors down the first escalators opened and I made that right to see that long walk...

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DMenace83 t1_j5ukndj wrote

Enjoy it while it lasts, it won't be new and clean in a few months.

NYC doesn't like to keep things new. Unlike other countries, nobody is employed to clean the escalators, floors, walls, ceilings, etc...

−21

mrturdferguson OP t1_j5uoiql wrote

You must not venture out late a night to see the hardworking crews power washing and mopping up tons of disgusting things. But I agree, they should employ more people to keep it cleaner.

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DMenace83 t1_j5v7td1 wrote

I'll be honest I haven't, but I do see stations like the Flushing Main St escalators brand new at the time they were built, but in less than a year, dust and grime started to coat the nice walls. Now, it's just a thick black layer of dust that nobody else bothers to clean.

On the flip side, I look at places like Japan, there are cleaning crew running around 24/7 cleaning the stations, wiping the escalator handles, stairs, etc. And everywhere is so nice and clean.

3

Isawthebeets t1_j5wz850 wrote

Tokyo trains close at midnight or 1am. So they can clean do maintenance. If we did that. We would need an a army of nightbuses to handle instead…actually

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DMenace83 t1_j5ya9b2 wrote

Right, but I'm referring to stations. Don't need to shut down the station for it to be cleaned.

1

Ermahgerd_Rerded t1_j5wq8cm wrote

There’s no escalators at flushing main you fucking liar

−5

DMenace83 t1_j5wyywl wrote

Subway station, 7 train, on Roosevelt. There are 2 big escalators across the street from Macy's.

2

Redbird9346 t1_j5xs9jh wrote

The Lippman Plaza exit, mid-block between Main and Union.

1

woodcider t1_j5xi2d1 wrote

Every time there’s a budget crisis the first people they cut are Cleaners. Then there’s a rise in track fires and service gets messed up. They haven’t figured out that these things cascade. Keeping the stations clean should be a higher priority.

1

arthurnewt t1_j5ur7qh wrote

After all the money spent the cleaning should be the least they can do

0

SerKikato t1_j5uzy4t wrote

To be honest, as a non-native, part of the mystique or culture shock to moving here was seeing the rust on steel and the grime on Century old tile. A lot of stations and buildings are like time machines into an entirely different era. There's history in those old bones.

But new constructions do stay new. Moynihan is 2 years old and looks just as clean as it did when it opened. Hudson Yards looks just as good as any Mall overseas.

10

DaoFerret t1_j5vao4d wrote

It’s part of why Star Wars pioneered a more “gritty” and realistic SciFi.

Technology always looks new when it first comes out, but it tends to show wear over time.

Most SciFi till then had kept everything sparkling and pretty. StarWars showed the wear of “old” technology, which leant an air of credibility and reality to it that earlier works didn’t have.

3

dadefresh t1_j5udxh0 wrote

Day 1 and an escalator is broken.

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LunacyNow t1_j5w9c8c wrote

Emmteeay is an old Indian word for 'broken escalator'.

9

mdude04 t1_j5wxm24 wrote

Almost as deep as the list of people who were on the MTA payroll for this project until an auditor came in and could not find any reason why they were being paid

Edit: It was around 22% of the payroll in 2017. Hundreds of people being paid $30,000 a month for no identifiable reason. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html

"Nobody knew what those people were doing, if they were doing anything," said Michael Horodniceanu, who was then the head of construction at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority

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FineAunts t1_j5ya0me wrote

I wish these auditors were there during the entirety of the project. So many of these stories keep coming out.

6

lilmixedbunny85 t1_j5ulk9f wrote

so this is in Grand Central Terminal or it's a separate stop?

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TeamMisha t1_j5uquvp wrote

It's a separate stop for LIRR trains, accessed through new entrances from the dining concourse in Grand Central Terminal as well as from a few places along Madison Ave.

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lilmixedbunny85 t1_j5urwun wrote

thank you! hopefully it'll shave off some minutes from my usual commute

edit: well according to the shuttle time ... no. both still 20ish minutes from Jamaica to GCT or Penn Station. bummer.

12

WorthPrudent3028 t1_j5ug6d4 wrote

Can you access it directly from the subway or do you need to go all the way up into the main terminal hall and then back down?

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CurbYourNewUrbanism t1_j5uhho0 wrote

All the way up and back down. If the Grand Hyatt redevelopment project goes through, it would add (years from now) a direct connection from the subway to Grand Central Madison.

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Mcfinley t1_j5urzky wrote

I prefer 145 Park Ave be referred to by its proper name, The Thicc Boi

11

getmendoza99 t1_j5uvqc4 wrote

So the time it takes to get from the train to the street nixes the gains from not having to take the subway from Penn?

7

NYCstraphanger t1_j5uwnaa wrote

It will take forever to go up those stairs during rush hour. Also, they should designate a walk up only escalator as people are so lazy and just stand when they can treat them like moving stairs. Surprisingly, since the pandemic, now people stay to the right on the escalator at Penn during rush hour. Pre-pandemic this was not the norm and there would be confrontations about moving over so people can walk up.

6

spader1 t1_j5w704g wrote

I must be in the minority here, but I find it extremely disorienting when wall panels in an escalator hall are canted to be perpendicular to the escalators, like here and (especially) at Hudson Yards. I see the lines in my periphery and subconsciously start to lean backward.

6

SixGunSnowWhite t1_j5yvvaf wrote

Right? I got horrible vertigo first time I went to Hudson Yards. It was crazy.

2

Desperate-Ad-6463 t1_j5w7eqc wrote

So, Metro North connection to JFK can be achieved, yes?

4

I-Sleep-At-Work t1_j5whtxy wrote

i would not rush to walk down this escalator... the hudson yard one already kinda make my head spin, this looks even deeper

4

thebruns t1_j5ubk4e wrote

Why are the up and down directions reversed

3

mrturdferguson OP t1_j5uby3c wrote

Maybe to get foot traffic closer to the exit since you have to turn left at the top to get back to GC.

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newestindustry t1_j5ueas0 wrote

Now brick it up until they start building apartments by LIRR stations.

3

bklyn1977 t1_j5vwv0i wrote

There are apartments by LIRR stations. Do you even live here?

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newestindustry t1_j5w0vro wrote

You live on Long Island?

−3

bklyn1977 t1_j5w1fgb wrote

I live in Brooklyn and visit people who live on Long Island in apartments near LIRR stations. Why be against expanding transit. 'now brick it up' what a shit take.

4

newestindustry t1_j5w3gj2 wrote

I’m for expanding transit where the population is growing. The LIRR adjacent population in Nassau County has not changed for 50 years. Thanks for your life story though, boss.

−8

sillo38 t1_j5uhqnc wrote

Seems like their ventilation solution was just boxing off the dining concourse entrance and adding two sets of doors.

3

mrturdferguson OP t1_j5uitn4 wrote

Those doors seem temporary. Maybe they'll open it up, or maybe they'll put a more permanent door setup there eventually?

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sillo38 t1_j5usxg8 wrote

yeah they look very temporary. It was probably the fastest way to get the station open. Hopefully they can solve whatever the issue is and open it up like I'm guessing it was designed to be. If they can't they should at least come up with some better looking doors.

3

ivazquez71 t1_j5uro1o wrote

Does it have its own restrooms? New spots to poop is appreciated.

3

mrturdferguson OP t1_j5usu97 wrote

I think I recall seeing 2 separate men's and women's rooms.

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BronxLens t1_j5uq5lv wrote

Where is the entrance to the top of this escalator located? i.e. Via Madison but between which streets?

2

TeamMisha t1_j5ur4ex wrote

The super long escalators connect the platform mezzanines to the new concourse, it is in essence between/under Madison Ave and Vanderbilt Ave. You can access the concourse from the dining level in the terminal and at a few entrances from along Madisom between I believe 48th and 42nd

1

newnewreditguy t1_j5w9hij wrote

This project was such a mess for so long. Notice the head of the mta said going forward they'll move with a "modern design build approach".

The red tape and mediocrity in government projects is unbelievable. Design build means getting rid of a lot of positions that contribute almost nothing to a project and instead go straight with the contractors that know how to build right from the beginning. Hopefully they stick to it.

https://youtu.be/7iisAHuytA8

2

IJustBringItt t1_j5v0183 wrote

Does anyone know how often LIRR posts up vacant conductor positions? Is it once a year?

1

murbike t1_j5wq59k wrote

That's a cool station.
There's one in DC (Alexandria, I think) that's steeper, and pretty long.

1

runninhillbilly t1_j6052d3 wrote

DC has a few really long ones. Rosslyn (yes, with 2 s) is I think the longest, but Cleveland Park and one of the other red line stations have ones that are close.

Source: Live in DC area, came over here just to see what people were saying about the new train service

2

murbike t1_j60j2r4 wrote

Rosslyn is the one I’ve been to

1

LVorenus2020 t1_j5wu4ut wrote

Are there stairs or an elevator? Beyond a certain height, I opt away from escalators.

1

Ok-Strain-9847 t1_j5yfrx3 wrote

Not much worse than the #7 to Grand Central

1

BorEqua t1_j5yhi03 wrote

Hudson Yards vibes

1

Vizualize t1_j5yuelz wrote

For my schedule the train to GCT takes about 10-20 minutes longer than going to Penn, depending on the train. Between the walk and the extra waiting time, it's faster to take the 1,2,3 to TSQ and take the Shuttle train over.

1

torchwood18 t1_j5yvmx7 wrote

It’s a bunker / fallout shelter for trump and his rich friends

/s

1

monica702f t1_j5yyn8g wrote

Third escalator from the left broke down once they let everyone downstairs. Was halfway down when it grinded to a halt and we almost fell down!

1

mashed_potat0 t1_j64myv9 wrote

Think that's deep? Try going to Kiev or Moscow.

1

City_bound t1_j5wirp5 wrote

They should keep homeless out of the terminal

−2

virtual_adam t1_j5vgjym wrote

So we paid for the bridge and tunnel to have an easier time to get to the city? F it charge them triple the current plan for congestion pricing

−7