John F. Kennedy International airport (JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. Getting to the airport from the city will now be much easier thanks to a long-awaited train station which is now open.
The Grand Central Madison station, which opened on Wednesday, is in the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan. The new terminal’s tracks are 15 stories below ground and commuters must ride up three escalators.
This station will present a new hub for travelers, especially those commuters via the Long Island Railroad (LIRR). It will also give Travelers coming from JFK another way to get into the city.
Via the JFK AirTrain, travelers will arrive in Jamaica, Queens, and then are able to transfer to a train heading into the city.
“Grand Central Madison is a game changer for New Yorkers,” New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “I look forward to welcoming Long Island commuters to our tremendous new terminal
Hochul continued, “infrastructure is all about connections, and this project is an extraordinary step forward to better connect millions of New Yorkers with their homes, their families, and their jobs.”
Trains will run every 30 minutes in both directions during normal business hours. During peak periods they will run once per hour.
The station will be open between 6:15 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays and between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. on weekends. It is the first expansion of the LIRR in 112 years.
LIRR Interim President and Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi said in the statement. “This is the dawn of a new era for the railroad, no less important than [the] opening of the LIRR’s service to Penn Station in 1910.”
The new station has some distinctive design elements such as an 875-square-foot abstract and figurative mosaic by Yayoi Kusama and brightly lit halls and glass mosaics.