MTA: LIRR Trains To Reach Grand Central by 2016

Two boring machines will start drilling four tunnels under Sunnyside Yard to connect the LIRR trains to Grand Central Terminal, says the MTA.
MTA: LIRR Trains To Reach Grand Central by 2016
MTA: LIRR trains will stop at Grand Central in 2016, making connections to the east side of Manhattan easier for communters. Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
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<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/1534695.jpg" alt="MTA: LIRR trains will stop at Grand Central in 2016, making connections to the east side of Manhattan easier for communters. (Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)" title="MTA: LIRR trains will stop at Grand Central in 2016, making connections to the east side of Manhattan easier for communters. (Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1806626"/></a>
MTA: LIRR trains will stop at Grand Central in 2016, making connections to the east side of Manhattan easier for communters. (Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)
NEW YORK—Two boring machines will start drilling four tunnels under Sunnyside Yard in Queens to connect the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains to Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, says the MTA. The tunnels are expected to be completed in October, 2012.

The boring machines have been named Tess and Molina by sixth graders Mohammad Malik, Michael Morales, and Angel Peralta of the Oliver Wendell Holmes School, in Long Island City.

The effort is part of the project called East Side Access, which is set to finish in 2016. By then, LIRR trains will be able to make direct stops at Grand Central. Right now, Queens and Long Island commuters have to get off at Pennsylvania Station and connect to subway lines to reach destinations on the East Side of Manhattan. The MTA estimates that the East Side Access will reduce as much as 40 minutes of travel time for about 160,000 commuters.

“One day in the not too distant future, a conductor will say eight magic words that have never been spoken on Long Island: ‘This is the train to Grand Central Terminal,’” said President of the Long Island Rail Road, Helena E. Williams, according to an official press release.

President of MTA Capital Construction, Dr. Michael Horodniceanu, commented that the East Side Access is the “largest transportation construction project” in the country.