New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has approved the final major contract for the project, which involves construction of four platforms and eight tracks for the new Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) terminal some 30m below Grand Central Terminal.
The contract will transform two enormous 348m-long caverns carved out of solid rock into a terminal station.
Award of the 3.5-year, US$663m caverns project follows a year-long procurement process in which 34 firms requested the contract documents and seven submitted technical and cost proposals. The selection committee unanimously selected low-cost proposer Tutor Perini from among three firms that submitted best and final offers.
Tutor Perini’s latest US$663m win follows a US$79m contract awarded last for upgrades to rail infrastructure in Sunnyside, Queens. The upgrades will enable LIRR trains to access Grand Central Terminal.
“These are a significant milestones for East Side Access and will turn raw underground caverns into the modern station that LIRR customers will use when they head directly to and from the East Side of Manhattan,” said MTA chairman and CEO Thomas Prendergast. “And the Sunnyside contract will make it possible for trains to reach Grand Central Terminal. East Side Access will save Long Island and Queens customers up to 40 minutes a day in travel time, demonstrating why transit expansion is a key element of our 2015-19 Capital Program.”
“With the award of these contracts, the eventual completion of East Side Access is starting to come into view,” said Dr Michael Horodniceanu, president of MTA Capital Construction, which is building the project. “This is the next chapter in the long history of Grand Central Terminal and the growth and development of New York City.”
East Side Access is scheduled to be completed in December 2022.
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