Keep East Side Access on track

After more than 60 years of starts and stops, delay after delay, and billions of dollars, a seemingly simple yet momentous sight emerged from a railroad tunnel late last month.

A Long Island Rail Road train, carrying Gov. Kathy Hochul, Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief executive Janno Lieber and others, left Jamaica Station in Queens and arrived at Grand Central Terminal.

It was a moment some might've dismissed as impossible after decades of disarray and a lack of leadership.

After all, there was a time when East Side Access was to be completed by 2009, at a cost of $4.3 billion. Now, it's expected to open officially at the end of 2022, with a price tag of about $11.2 billion.

But while major construction work is completed, there's still work to do before the new train route is ready. That means putting remaining systems and technology in place and testing equipment. It means hiring and training hundreds of workers. It means developing LIRR schedules that are flexible and adaptable as rider habits evolve. And it means bringing in able private contractors who can handle the LIRR's new terminal and concourse, including 25,000 square feet of retail space, which will fall under the MTA's newly created special purpose entity. It means being open about any holdups or delays still to come.

Complex and critical work remains. Much of it falls to the LIRR, which must be ready to operate and oversee a set of new train schedules, tracks and workers that's equivalent in size and scope to a new commuter railroad elsewhere in the country. The MTA, meanwhile, must get the station management right.

While Lieber has helped to get East Side Access on track, it won't be easy to keep the project on course, particularly because so many pieces still must fall into place.

That's especially true as the MTA and LIRR are trying to recover from the pandemic. The railroad's weekday ridership remains nearly 50% below where it was pre-pandemic, although weekend use of the trains is better. But if done well, the railroad's expansion efforts could help, as passengers may be more likely to return to an LIRR that offers new options, improved service and a bright, enticing destination.

East Side Access becomes even more important when paired with the Third Track expansion project on the LIRR's Main Line. Together, they'll benefit the region, especially as companies develop satellite offices on Long Island and as residents vary when and how they use the LIRR. The Third Track also is scheduled for completion by the end of 2022, but that will happen only if Garden City allows work to begin on a local bridge key to the project.

The region's future success depends on East Side Access and Third Track both reaching their destinations on time, even if decades later than first expected.