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East Side Access (ESA) is a public works project in New York City that extended the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) two miles from its Main Line in Queens to the new Grand Central Madison station under Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan's East Side.
An agreement for the first phase was reached in early 2019, and a groundbreaking ceremony took place in December 2022. New Haven Line trains are tentatively expected to run into Penn Station in 2027. The opening of East Side Access will allow the expanded services to operate at Moynihan Train Hall, an expansion of Penn Station.
The tunnel was long referred to as the "tunnel to nowhere" because its Queens end did not connect to any other subway line until 2001. Construction on the East Side Access project, which uses the lower level, started in 2006; the lower level opened on January 25, 2023.
The East Side Access project, including tunnels under the East River and the East Side of Manhattan, was completed in early 2023; some LIRR traffic has been diverted to Grand Central, freeing up track slots at Penn Station.
The MTA estimated that East Side Access will be complete in early 2023. By November 2018, two of three East Side Access tunnel portals had been built at Harold Interlocking; the remaining portal had been completed by early 2021. Ultimately, East Side Access opened on January 25, 2023. Other improvements
However, due to delays in the East Side Access project (which would give LIRR riders a second direct route into Manhattan via the 63rd Street Tunnel), Amtrak later pushed back the start date of the East River Tunnels' reconstruction to 2025, and increased the construction time to four years.
Originally planned as part of the East Side Access project; now proposed as part of the MTA's 20-year needs assessment: 77th Street Manhattan: Awaiting zoning approval (ZFA) Southbound platform only; proposed to be constructed by Northwell Health as part of Lenox Hill Hospital expansion: Halsey Street: Brooklyn
Access to the Region's Core – tunnel project, canceled in 2010. Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel – project proposed in 1993. East Side Access – tunnel project, completed in 2023. Gateway Project – project proposed in 2011. New York Connecting Railroad – follow-up to Tunnel Extension, completed in 1917.
Construction for the station was deemed to be impossible until East Side Access was completed, as the yard was being redeveloped at the time. The station is classified as a high priority under the Sunnyside Yard Master Plan.
East Side Access is a project being undertaken by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), designed to bring the LIRR into a new East Side station to be built below and incorporated into Grand Central Terminal.