After many years of planning, the LIRR connection at Grand Central Madison lastly opened in March 2023.
File picture/Paul Frangipane
MTA’s commuter railroads – Lengthy Island Rail Highway and Metro-North – are typically missed by people dwelling inside the 5 boroughs, and I can see why. Prior to now, trains whizzed by way of the Bronx and Queens with out stopping for a lot of New Yorkers who may benefit from a shorter commute. We’ve fastened that – each by growing service and chopping costs to save lots of 1000’s of riders priceless money and time.
Opening Grand Central Madison was the important thing to increasing service on the LIRR. Virtually in a single day, clients in southeast Queens had a ton of recent choices. St. Albans – the place we simply celebrated some crucial station upgrades final week – noticed a 30% enhance in service adopted by a considerable surge in ridership. The identical occurred within the Bronx after we added new stops for Metro-North trains touring between Grand Central and Connecticut and from the Bronx and Manhattan to jobs in Westchester.
However the greatest boon to NYC ridership by far has been the growth of CityTicket, the low cost for in-city commuter railroad journeys. It is a program that was first piloted 20 years in the past however wasn’t expanded till just lately. And now it’s paying for itself, bringing 1000’s of recent riders to each LIRR and Metro-North. 5 bucks a journey throughout off-peak hours and $7 in peak – focused affordability for low-income and working-class New Yorkers.
Now, we have now an opportunity to double down on these efforts with Metro-North Penn Station Entry. This megaproject will add 4 new stations within the transit-deprived East Bronx and minimize journey occasions to Manhattan by as a lot as 50 minutes. We fought arduous to get it green-lit and underway, however at the moment are going through delays. Amtrak owns the railroad, and we’re decided to work with them to provide these communities actual transit choices by 2027, as deliberate. I’m thrilled that we’ve gotten a lot assist from native elected officers, together with New York’s congressional delegation.
We even have the backing of Governor Hochul. With decreased Amtrak service to Albany obtainable because the feds began their East River tunnel challenge, she challenged Metro-North to increase its attain to the capital area. We responded, and people Metro-North trains will begin operating within the spring to ensure New Yorkers can get the place they should go, even past the Hudson Valley.
Backside line: this isn’t the outdated MTA. Our quick, frequent and inexpensive commuter railroads at the moment are as a lot on monitor for Metropolis residents as they lengthy have been for our suburban neighbors.
Janno Lieber is MTA Chair and CEO.
