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Long Island Rail Road Full Service at Grand Central Madison

Grand Central Madison Image

New York, NY 28 February 2023 - On February 27, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) launched the Grand Central Madison (GCM) commuter rail terminal, an $11.1 billion, 700,000-sq ft station located below the historic Grand Central Terminal (GCT) in Manhattan midtown east. The MTA’s largest capital project, it provides Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) riders with 40 miles of new tracks and a new terminal beneath Grand Central Terminal, and includes the modernization of the busiest intersection of passenger train lines in North America.

Network Rail Consulting, Inc. (NRC) assisted LIRR with Operational Readiness and Rail Activation Commissioning activities to support the safe and successful activation and ongoing management of the new terminal and infrastructure that has been 60 years in the making. This is a continuation of NRC’s previous work, which included various recommendations around implementing internationally proven Entry-into-Service techniques for complex multibillion-dollar capital programs. The long-awaited service into the city’s east side reduces travel times by up to 40 minutes for more than 160,000 commuters from Long Island who now have access to additional LIRR rail stations and no longer have to commute crosstown from LIRR’s Manhattan west side terminal to the city’s east side.

For this GCM project, NRC provided recommendations based on international best practices; conducted a dry run of the project’s Federal Transit Administration Readiness for Revenue Service review and produced recommendations. We also developed an elevator/escalator plan, in line with international best practices to effectively manage the complex vertical transportation elements at the new terminal comprising 20 elevators and 47 escalators. NRC also planned and delivered tabletop and live exercises simulating various scenarios around operations, security, and facilities management, including a live exercise involving 200 customer volunteers accessing the terminal prior to revenue service; and supported LIRR with development of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Pre-Revenue Safety Validation Plan in advance of revenue service.

Janey Bell, NRC’s Associate Director, Stations & Commercial Project Development, led NRC’s operational readiness efforts in support of LIRR’s operations for the new GCM terminal. Reflecting on her role on this historic project, Janey observed, “It's been a real privilege to support such a monumental project for transit in New York. We particularly enjoyed working with LIRR and other key players to bring the new terminal and infrastructure into revenue service – GCM is a real reminder of what great teamwork can achieve!" Janey is an accomplished project and development manager with more than 10 years’ experience in rail infrastructure projects. She specializes in Major Projects and Stations, with a focus on customer experience.

-ENDS-

For further information, contact: [email protected]

Notes to Editors

About Network Rail Consulting

  • Network Rail Consulting is a wholly owned subsidiary of Network Rail and was established in 2012 to benchmark Network Rail’s capabilities in the international market and enhance the capabilities of its staff through international experience which could then be deployed back into its UK operations.
  • The board of directors of Network Rail Consulting comprises Jeremy Westlake (non-executive chair), Nigel Ash (global managing director), Tim Shoveller (non-executive director), Andrew Noble (finance director) and Ian Dobbs (non-executive director).
  • Network Rail Consulting has subsidiaries in Australia, Canada and the USA; and operates from offices in Boston, Brisbane, London (HQ), Melbourne, New York, Riyadh, Sacramento, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto and Washington DC.
  • Network Rail Consulting is selling the full range of rail expertise available within Network Rail including asset management, maintenance planning and optimisation, timetabling and simulation modelling, technical assistance and interim management; and project and programme management.

More information can be found at www.networkrailconsulting.com

About Network Rail

Network Rail owns and operates Britain’s rail infrastructure network – one of the world’s most intensively used rail networks. Our network is the fifth busiest rail network in the world and the second busiest in Europe. We:

  • Provide a safe and efficient national railway network that carries over 1.8 billion passenger journeys, 16.6 billion tonne kilometres of freight and 7 million train movements every year;
  • Own, maintain and operate 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and embankments and thousands of signals;
  • Operate 20 major stations which handle 800 million passenger journeys and own 2,500 other stations, which are leased to train operators;
  • Employ 42,000 people in asset management, operations, maintenance, renewals, and enhancement projects; and
  • Have an annual turnover of over $9.7bn, with capital expenditure of over $6bn per annum.
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