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For the past few years, getting off the 7 train at Grand Central-42nd Street Station and making my way up through the platform to the mezzanine has been a little like climbing out of a mine with detours to avoid active construction.
For years, the MTA promised via signage that the coming improvements would be worth the wait—and I’m happy to report that they were right.
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On Tuesday, the MTA opened a new $75 million passageway with a brand-new staircase to the Flushing 7 line platform, widened staircases (which were enlarged by 25%) as well as new lighting, fresh paint, 400 new fire alarms and 75 new light bulbs, according to Gothamist, which reported the opening first. The agency apparently also deep-cleaned the grime off the ceiling.
While I didn’t notice the ceiling, getting up off the platform was easier and walking through a new, less-crowded hallway up and away from the platform was really pleasant, making the journey to the escalator to the mezzanine a bit less harrowing. I will say, though, that there was still a bottleneck at the bottom of the escalator.
The platform is still very crowded, especially during the evening rush hour, but at least there is another access point. Apparently, 150,000 riders get off the 7 train each day at the station.
The project is part of the larger Grand Central-42 Street Circulations Improvement Project, which seeks to ameliorate passenger flow and minimize congestion for 480,000 daily customers on the 7 train line, according to the MTA. It began last year, when crews descended a 55-foot shaft to remove 1,000 tons of dirt and do controlled blasts through the bedrock to create the new passageway, without disturbing service.
You can see the work in this video.
“A thousand tons of dirt and 140 feet of Manhattan Schist couldn’t get in the way of another on-time and under-budget MTA capital project. We are blasting through bedrock and red tape to deliver more for New Yorkers, no matter what’s happening in Washington,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement.
Sometimes, even New York commuters get to have nice things.