Airflow system key obstacle to East Side Access completion, Grand Central Madison opening

A safety issue with the airflow systems inside the Long Island Rail Road's new Grand Central Madison station is the key obstacle in the way of bringing East Side Access over the finish line, and MTA officials say they won’t open the new facility until it is resolved.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials on Tuesday updated the public on its progress on the $11.1 billion megaproject, which they long promised would be complete by the end of 2022. At a meeting of the MTA Board’s commuter railroad committee, Jamie Torres-Springer, president of construction and development, said the agency remains “confident about opening service this year,” and that Grand Central Madison is “for all intents and purposes, a fully-functional facility” that already includes a working fire alarm system, elevators, and escalators.

But the MTA still hasn’t chosen an opening date because “complex and difficult systems testing and commissioning” is still underway, Torres-Springer said. The major issue to be resolved involves testing an airflow system to make sure it can quickly move air throughout the new 700,000-square foot station “in the event of a smoke condition,” he said.

“It’s a series of adjustments that need to be made, and then testing, and often retesting,” Torres-Springer said. “Obviously, we won’t open a new facility without having this signed off so we can be certain of the safety of our riders.”

East Side Access has been in various planning stages for six decades, and began construction in 2007. The project, which aims to link the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal and reduce travel times for some commuters, was once projected to be finished by 2009 at a cost of $4.3 billion.

Shortly after joining the transit agency as its construct chief, current MTA chairman Janno Lieber in 2018 promised the project would be finished this year. In an interview with 1010 WINS radio Tuesday, Lieber defended his decision to stick with that date, noting that “we would not be where we are, on the verge of opening this amazing new facility” if he hadn’t kept the pressure on the project team.

While still “pushing for December,” Lieber said that he was “not going to let it open unless all of the systems are finalized and approved by all the authorities.”

Some transit officials and advocates that spoke at Tuesday’s meeting questioned MTA leaders’ insistence on trying to open the new station in the last remaining weeks of 2022, rather than push the target date to early next year.

“I know our chair is very committed to the date, and I respect that deeply. But whether it’s six weeks more, or twelve weeks, I don’t think the public would care,” MTA Board member Neal Zuckerman said. “I personally don’t care, as long as it’s done right.”

A report published by the MTA on Monday acknowledged that construction of some aspects of the East Side Access project would extend into February 2023, from the originally targeted completion date of this month. But MTA officials said that those issues would not necessarily prevent the LIRR from running trains to Grand Central by New Year's Eve, as has been planned.

The MTA Board is set to meet again Wednesday, when the agency is set to release its updated financial plan and proposed 2023 operating budget. 

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.