![]() ![]() Much like the dining area upstairs in Grand Central Terminal, which includes an oyster bar and a Shake Shack, the hope is that, they will soon see Grand Central Madison as yet another destination-a place to peruse, shop, and, maybe, stay a while. It can often feel like the terminal is still in beta mode: Many of the visitors walking through are there to browse, not buy. Full service started today lately, service is limited to an hourly shuttle to Jamaica, another major hub within city limits. None of the storefronts that line the concourse have opened yet. Outside of the art and design, the concourse is still mostly bare. When visiting, you get the sense that you’ll find a new feature each time three separate trips have still not spawned a sighting of a tweet by Yoko Ono emblazoned on the wall, or the now-viral misspelling of Georgia O’Keeffe. ![]() ![]() Practically everywhere you look is a reminder as to why you’re standing on sacred ground: There are quotes from the likes of author Joan Didion and former mayor Ed Koch the state’s emblem, deconstructed and photo exhibits, one from the International Center for Photography dedicated to Paul Pfeiffer, a New York City street performer, and another on the epic engineering behind the space. Grand Central Madison is a shrine to New York’s might. And, like the new LaGuardia Airport, the journey is the experience, perhaps calling any time saved into question.īut, at least, there’s something to look at along the way. It takes riders about a minute and a half to climb or descend. Above, the tracks of the Metro-North Railroad, which connects to the Hudson Valley and Connecticut, spring from the main floor of Grand Central Terminal but here, below, the spine is one wide concourse, designed by AECOM and a litany of contractors, that filters riders down to platforms below via the longest escalators in the MTA system. Grand Central Madison spans the length of five city blocks below Madison Avenue, starting somewhere around 43rd Street and ending at 48th the MTA deployed color-coded wayfinding (and 200 volunteers) for guidance. Stepping off the train, the terminal’s vastness is all-consuming. Now there’s a third option on Manhattan’s east side: Grand Central Madison, with its eight tracks, can carry up to 24 trains an hour. Until now, over 300,000 daily riders had two endpoints: Penn Station, or Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal. Still, Grand Central Madison marks the first expansion of the LIRR, the country’s busiest commuter rail system, since its inauguration in 1910. Grand Central Madison spans five city blocks below Madison Avenue, starting somewhere around 43rd Street and ending at 48th the MTA deployed color-coded wayfinding within the station to orient passengers. Also, the uniquely American price tag is a real downer: $11 billion, which is $7 billion overbudget thanks to contractor woes, delays, and labor costs, not counting debt service. Grand Central Madison was “the first new major downtown rail terminal in the United States in 67 years”-which can be read as either exciting or, frankly, depressing. When officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority ( MTA) held the signature ribbon-cutting ceremony in late January, the press release pitched it as history in the making. ![]()
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