Grand Central Madison TERMINAL DISCUSSION THREAD

[nyandw]

ADMIN NOTE: FOR DISCUSSION OF THE NEW GRAND CENTRAL MADISON TERMINAL

Here's the first go at the GSM webpage: http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/GSM/Gr ... adison.htm

I post this as LIRR Historian Dave Morrison's ticket for this event.


Opening Day ticket to Grand Central Madison (GSM) from Jamaica 1/25/2023
Attendee/Collection: Dave Morrison

[Jeff Smith]

This topic is for discussion of the Grand Central Madison Terminal.

For discussion of the new timetables: grand-central-madison-timetables-thread-t175042.html

[Jeff Smith]

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/tr ... rd-to-find

Commuters rave about Grand Central Madison, even if it's hard to find
...
The size of the station means there’s a learning curve for navigating the terminal.

“The signage needs to improve,” Kathleen Dooley, a transit rider, said.

Brian Shaw, however, said it was no hassle to find his way around.

“All you have to do is read. The signs are there, the numbers are there.”

But that’s easier said than done for some New Yorkers. Gonzalo Perilla got lost looking for the MTA’s new rail terminal.

“There’s some [signs] here, but very hard to find,” he said.

The interim LIRR president, Catherine Rinaldi, said the MTA is taking feedback to make the signs easier to find and follow.

“We’re aware of the issue,” she said. “It’s a big, vast space, and not necessarily intuitive in terms of how you navigate to the various entrances and exits.”

[MattAmity90]

Just as a little token, I screenshot the Grand Central Madison Wikipedia page. Then I went into paint, trimmed it, and even though these signs were never made, here is what one platform sign with blue pinstripe looks like.

Grand Central Madison LIRR.png

(17.86 KiB) Downloaded 1410 times

[MACTRAXX]

MATT - Again the proper description for the color stripe is a sign TOPPER. A pinstripe is totally different - for a
description search "Pinstripe" or "Pinstriping and their uses in design" and you will then understand more...

There are NO MTA signs of this type in Grand Central (Madison) and for that matter in Grand Central Terminal.
Any signage uses the traditional graphic font used in GCT. MNCR signs are used at Harlem-125 Street Station
have a black topper instead of all three MNCR line colors...Nothing to do with timetables or train schedules.

Just realized something - both of these posts belong in *GC TERMINAL DISCUSSION*... MACTRAXX

[Jeff Smith]

Is there access to Madison terminal from the GCT North passage? That might make the transfer trek faster.

[bellstbarn]

Jeff, this reply is based on analysis, not an actual trek. It would appear that some of the street-level exits and entrances near 45th or 47th street have been used for 15 or 20 years by Metro North passengers. That is, billions were spent on the caverns down below, but understandably the planners have used already-existing doorways to the street. They avoided spending cash on street-level real estate purchases. Were I more able, I would travel to GCM, seek a nearby street exit. Then I would photograph that exit in its location and publish it here!

[Jeff Smith]

I’ve been once, but did not venture that direction.

[CTG]

Is there access to Madison terminal from the GCT North passage? That might make the transfer trek faster.

Yes, there is access from both the 45th street and 47th street cross-passages. If you know your way around Grand Central and are not hauling heavy luggage then transferring between a Metro North and LIRR train is pretty easy. But lots of stairs involved (as is always the case with Grand Central North)

[Jeff Smith]

Thanks CTG. I was wondering.

[MattAmity90]

MATT - Again the proper description for the color stripe is a sign TOPPER. A pinstripe is totally different - for a
description search "Pinstripe" or "Pinstriping and their uses in design" and you will then understand more...

There are NO MTA signs of this type in Grand Central (Madison) and for that matter in Grand Central Terminal.
Any signage uses the traditional graphic font used in GCT. MNCR signs are used at Harlem-125 Street Station
have a black topper instead of all three MNCR line colors...Nothing to do with timetables or train schedules.

Just realized something - both of these posts belong in *GC TERMINAL DISCUSSION*... MACTRAXX

Sorry about that, just got a little excited and went by what the signs look like system wide. Pinstripe was on the train cars, and the topper is on the sign.

[Gilbert B Norman]

An architectural review of GCM appearing today in The Journal

Fair Use:

You can’t judge Grand Central Madison, the new terminal of the Long Island Rail Road, by looking at it; there is nothing to see. The entire station sits underground, all 700,000 square feet of it, stretched out along a five-block concourse from 43rd to 48th streets. (Only a discreet ventilation facility at either end is visible from the sidewalk.) Such a structure you must judge by moving through it, as passengers have been doing since it opened this January, if not yet the 160,000 daily riders that are expected.

[MACTRAXX]

Everyone - This is the first St. Patrick's Day with Grand Central now open to the public for LIRR riders...

Grand Central has the advantage for St. Patrick's Day Parade goers of being closer to the 5th Avenue parade
route in Midtown Manhattan - starting north of 42nd Street than running up to about 80th Street along the E
side of Central Park before dispersing. Over time I have discovered that the best places to parade-watch is up
above 59th Street avoiding the pedestrian congestion of Midtown.

A pattern that I used for some years is to go north up to 86/Lexington in time for the first parade marchers to
reach that point (The St. Patrick's Day Parade route once went further north and east to about 86th Street and
3rd Avenue) which was about noontime thereabouts - and then over a period of hours gradually make my way
back towards Midtown in the late afternoon.

At some point in the last 20-25 years the St. Patrick's Day Parade has been shortened from around eight hours
down to around five hours - ending as the last units marched northward reaching the dispersal zone streets.
The Parade was over when the Department of Sanitation trucks and crews along with NYPD moving officers
around to break up street side barricades (as example) followed those last marchers. For a short time before
vehicles were let back onto 5th Avenue the roadway would be totally empty along Central Park - and a way
to make a little time on foot back towards 59th Street and Midtown as I remember.

This year the return to the LIRR for parade-goers is going to be different with Grand Central now available.
The MTA Police is going to have to be on the lookout for **EWI** (New Term: "Escalator While Intoxicated")
especially in the afternoon and evening with the long escalators leading from GCT level down towards the
LIRR platforms - an accidental fall down a long escalator has the potential of causing serious injury to not
only themselves - other bystanders can also be hurt in a serious incident...

Grand Central is going to offer more options for attending the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Let's see how this all pans out for the LIRR this year...MACTRAXX

[Jeff Smith]

Speaking of St. Patrick's Day, alcohol is banned on both MNRR and LIRR today. Good luck with that LOL.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Likewise as it was this past Saturday on METRA, Sgt. Smith, which appeared to be the "observed" day here in Chicago. Safe assumption that this official day will also be "celebrated".

I don't think I'll be downtown until there is a CSO program I wish to attend, i.e. when Muti comes back to close out the season that hopefully I can interest "my GF of sorts" to also attend.

Going to Salzburg as often as I have, "I've become spoiled" as to which concerts I attend.