MTA has awarded the final contract of its transformative East Side Access project.
The contract, which has been won by California’s Tutor Perini Corporation, covers the fit out of the caverns beneath Grand Central Terminal.
The new East Side Access station will create four new Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) platforms 30 metres below Grand Central, reducing journey times from Long Island and Queens to the east side of Manhattan.
The caverns project is expected to last three-and-a-half years and cost $663 million. The entire East Side Access project is due to be completed in December 2022.
MTA chairman and chief executive Thomas Prendergast said: “These are a significant milestones for East Side Access and will turn raw underground caverns into the modern station that LIRR customers will use when they head directly to and from the East Side of Manhattan.
“And the Sunnyside contract will make it possible for trains to reach Grand Central Terminal. East Side Access will save Long Island and Queens customers up to 40 minutes a day in travel time, demonstrating why transit expansion is a key element of our 2015-19 Capital Program.”
Once open, the new East Side Access station will free up LIRR tracks in Penn Station. This will allow the MTA Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line to run to Penn Station via Queens.
