The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s long running $11-billion journey to connect Long Island Rail Road commuter lines to Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal rail hub is in its final stretch, with the East Side Access project team completing a battery of tests of tracks, tunnels, station features, yards, support facilities and dozens of train systems. The project team aims to start service at the end of 2022.

这项庞大的项目（几十年前就开始并在以前的时代开始并停止），在2008年的金融危机之前获得了资助，此后经过几次重新编程 - 在过去的10年中，已经有各种各样的里程碑并在现有大中央的350,000平方英尺的车站开挖洞穴。但是当前阶段是真正的最终游戏 - 训练和发动机人员进行飞行员跑步，安装和测试火车系统以及最终的车站装修工作。

The testing phase alone showcases the project’s scope and complexity, says Rob Troup, MTA’s senior program executive for East Side Access, who took on his role in 2018, 11 years after the first tunneling began.

Workers in October 2019 demolish and remove a tunnel boring machine cutterhead at the Queens tunnels that are part of the East Side Access megaproject.
Photo by MTA Construction & Development Mega Projects

“There are 29 major operations and control systems for East Side Access, and most are fully integrated,” he says. “I’ve been here three years and am still amazed at how big the project is, and how complicated the systems are and need to be.”

Ensuring each component works as intended—and that they all work together—is a critical step, Troup says.

“Just the smoke extraction, fire alarm, fire and life safety, and building management systems are big and complicated on a project of this size,” he says. “The challenge is in thoroughly testing the elements and making sure they’re working properly. When you have a project where some features are 10 years old, sometimes you get to an asset that needs to be repaired or replaced.”

混凝土领带于2022年3月安装在长岛铁路（Long Island Road）40英里的东侧访问项目40英里的一部分上。
Photo by MTA Construction & Development Mega Projects

With major civil work completed last year, the testing phase began in earnest several months ago, particularly around advanced train operations systems that will be part of the mix from the first day of service, says Vanessa Ajdinova, vice president for Northeast operations at Jacobs, which is the East Side Access project's consultant construction manager.

“Over the last number of months, [LIRR] passenger cars were brought onto the project and operated using the permanent traction power and signal system,” she says. “This included testing all related rail infrastructure, including power, signal and track systems. The first goal was to check static and dynamic tunnel envelope clearances, followed by testing of the systems that support the passenger train operations.”

当测试的预期结果,它是一个huge boost, Ajdinova adds. “Having spent many years building this vast and complex system, seeing trains successfully operate on the East Side Access tracks is a defining moment for the project team,” she says.

A mason, seen in March 2022, puts finishing touches on the Grand Central Terminal end of the East Side Access project.
Photo by MTA Construction & Development Mega Projects

For contractors in the final phase, a main challenge is navigating the tight completion deadline, supply chain disruptions and the need to coordinate closely with other trades, says John Murphy, vice president and project executive at PJS Group, which is completing lighting, seating, signage and other final enhancements in the new Grand Central concourse and station, which has four platforms and eight tracks on two levels.

“还有其他的交易,but the MTA knows where everybody is going to be,” Murphy says. “It does require very specific scheduling. It’s understood [that]you may not get to the area today, but it’s got to get done.”

In March 2020, workers encase the tunnel boring machine liner in the final approach structure under Harold Interlocking in Queens—the busiest passenger train connection point in the U.S.
Photo by MTA Construction & Development Mega Projects

Long Ride

East Side以其目前的形式进入了1990年代后期的规划，2006年的大量资金以及2007年的第一笔隧道合同，当时Dragados-Judlau合资合资企业向第一批隧道储物机器射击。那时，该项目已经黯然失色的35亿美元预算估算及其最初的2010年完成时间表。多年来，它将在范围，预算扩张和安排重置方面进行更多的转变。

The project included work by Tutor Perini, Dragados, Judlau Contracting, Skanska, Michels, Comstock, Halmar International, Schiavone, Piccone, Five Star, Yonkers Electric, Tully Environmental and EJ Electric on construction; design firms like WSP, STV and Parsons; and AECOM and Jacobs as project managers.

Major tunneling work took place through four contracts between 2007 and 2012 on both the Manhattan and Queens sides of the East River, connecting to the 63rd Street tunnel built in the 1970s with an East Side Access-like service in mind. Contracts to dig out station caverns largely finished in 2014 after removing 1.5 million cu ft of muck. Construction on two miles of tunnels under Harold Interlocking in Queens—the busiest passenger train connection point in the U.S. with 750 trains daily from four rail services—and on three major ventilation plants in midtown Manhattan all took place during the middle of the last decade.

Various studies and news articles over the years have analyzed the project’s evolution and cost escalation, in some cases blaming sprawling contracts or mismanagement. But with most of the big work done, MTA leadership in 2018 set out the current completion timeline with another project reprogramming—and the job appears set to finish on that schedule this year.

一群自动扶梯is seen mid-installation in March 2022 at Grand Central Terminal’s East Side Access addition.
Photo by MTA Construction & Development Mega Projects

Much remaining work—connecting tunnels, track work, maintenance and storage yard infrastructure, safety and control systems, crew quarters, operations infrastructure and station finishes—took place over the last few years, with many contracts wrapping up in 2021 or early this year.

The anticipation now is on the project delivering its stated goal—saving time for Long Island commuters who today flow into Penn Station on the west side of Manhattan and then take subways or buses to get to their jobs on the east side. East Side Access will also double LIRR’s capacity to 24 trains per hour, shorten travel times for Queens residents and reverse commuters out of the city, relieve Penn Station congestion and expand access to city airports.
The work that has been completed to date is impressive from a construction perspective, according to Troup.

“Having seen the work that preceded me, seeing what it was before and how it turned out, it’s quite frankly a world-class environment,” he says. “Just the tunnel caverns—we’re 150 feet below street level, but you have arched structures, higher ceilings than what you’d expect, really good lighting.”

项目统计在任何规模上都是值得注意的：40英里的新轨道，13英里的新挖洞隧道；一个有300台铁路车的储藏场；Harold Interlocking的97个新轨道开关和五个新的钢桥；17个高层自动扶梯，每个自动扶梯长182英尺；550英里的电缆；模块化CO8牵引力变电站；甚至在通风结构上的第50街上的一个口袋公园。

Even as the station and rail infrastructure are set to come online later this year, there are contracts pending with related projects and tasks. An MTA subsidiary overseeing the station recently issued a new RFP for an operations and maintenance contractor to run nonrailroad assets, such as ventilation fans, chiller plants, major electrical equipment and cleaning services. A temporary services contract for the same scope has been out since last year to ensure coverage when the station opens.

MTA还在哈罗德（Harold）互锁的隧道上建造了隧道，尤其是向东的重新路由和西行旁路项目，这些项目不再正式地成为东侧访问的一部分，并且没有必要完成新的车站。新利18备用网址

Workers apply shotcrete in the East Side Access project’s massive westbound cavern in October 2012.
Photo by MTA Construction & Development Mega Projects

Testing, Testing

Operational testing is already complete for some features, including the traction power, blue light and conventional signal systems, but it is ongoing for others, such as the tunnel ventilation fans, smoke extraction devices and some Queens infrastructure, Troup says. “We’re really deep into the testing phase” of many of the integrated systems, he says.

Ajdinova的其他正在进行的测试涉及雅各布斯团队正在工作的集中交通管制系统，“这涉及从位于大中心的控制室的火车进行控制和监视。”

Troup说，另一个持续的努力是针对发动机和培训机组人员的“物理特征训练”，这基本上为他们在轨道上进行了测试。他解释说：“他们需要在火车上进行一定数量的粘性时间，以查看通风轴的位置，如何布置互锁以及火车如何通过隧道处理自身。”

The construction team still is installing some features of a positive train control system and has completed about 40% of testing for that safety feature, which aims to prevent collisions. It also is working on plans for live-action simulation exercises with local first responders. Most testing will wrap up at the end of the third quarter or beginning of the fourth quarter, Troup says.

The new station will be a signature feature of the completed project, blending its own modern character with echoes of its historic upstairs neighbor, Troup says. “It’s a different space from Grand Central but retains some of the historical aspects,” he says. “It complements it very well.”

街道下方的乘客大厅将提供新的街道入口，25个零售店面，艺术装置和数字标牌，同时通过数十台电梯和自动扶梯连接到下面的火车，这导致了两个上层平台，一个夹层的平台，两个下层平台公园大道以下140英尺的平台。

今天，车站上的最终装修工作旨在更改已经完成工作，部分原因是某些设计可以追溯到“当我们仍然运行Commodore 64台计算机”时，Troup趣闻。他说，更改地址地址为乘客期望和口味的变化，例如更新空间以删除一些售票窗口，但安装了自动售票站，同时还增加了座位并创建了更好的等待区。

“We asked, ‘How do we modernize this into a 21st-century facility?’” he says. “We want a more modern feel, a more modern environment, not just for the aesthetics but also for the function of it.”

A central piece of that contract is installing accent lighting throughout the concourse, cutting into the existing ceiling to add new light coves that will shine on the walls and stone, Murphy explains. His team is also adding advertising and artwork light boxes and wayfinding signage throughout the concourse, especially to help people at platforms figure out where they will exit at street level, he says.

墨菲说，PJ还在票务区附近添加了37英尺长的LIRR服务网络地图。他说：“这将是'WOW'的功能。”“这似乎是核心。我们甚至会使它更具互动性，这将成为人们真正注意到的事情。”