The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has completed work on a major upgrade of Grand Central-42 St. subway station following five years of improvements. The Grand Central-42 St Circulation Improvement Project, which started in 2020, features significant enhancements designed to improve passenger flow and make the transit hub more accessible for an estimated 400,000 daily riders.
New features at the station complex includes 14 new staircases, 24 widened existing staircases, replacement of 10 escalators and increased mezzanine floor space by 20% in the public area. One new street-to-mezzanine elevator was installed, one street-to-mezzanine elevator was replaced, and three elevators were replaced that run from the mezzanine to the uptown Lexington lines, downtown Lexington lines, and Flushing line platforms.
“We took many different projects and put them together to a single, aggressively managed package,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “We are thrilled to celebrate that all this work was done on time and well ahead of budget.”
“This massive five-year project to completely rehabilitate the second busiest train station in America was completed on time and nearly $46.5 million under budget,” said MTA Construction and Development President Jamie Torres-Springer. “We’ve made generational improvements to the region’s crown jewel of public transportation, all while keeping subway service fast and reliable.”
The project was completed on time, $46.5 million under budget, and was supported by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), including $94.1 million to replace 8 escalators and $8.7 million to replace one hydraulic elevator at the Grand Central-42 St train station. Project cost savings were achieved through several methods including implementation of a design-build contract, which streamlines logistics and ensures a single point of accountability; use of in-house labor; “piggybacking,” which features crews performing work on multiple projects during planned service outages, and consolidation of three projects into one streamlined program, resulting in substantial overhead reductions.
Teams also installed new fare control areas featuring 30 new turnstiles throughout the station, bringing the total number up to 92 – a nearly 50% increase from five years ago. These features will improve foot traffic circulation, significantly reduce congestion, and strengthen overall transit accessibility, allowing for faster, easier entry to the subway system as well as commuter trains and retail locations within Grand Central Terminal.
The Grand Central-42 St Circulation Improvement Project included State of Good Repair work as part of the MTA’s “Revive” program as well as upgrades to fire and security systems. This included more than 266,000 square feet of new paint, 436 square feet of new tiling and concrete, the conversion of 1,377 lightbulbs to brighter and more cost-efficient LED bulbs, structural repairs and new grouting to prevent water leaks. Upgrades to the fire prevention system included the installation of 214 smoke detectors and 470 fire alarms. 61 new CCTV cameras were also installed – a nearly 50% increase from 2020. New wayfinding signs and 143 new public address speakers were also installed.
