More seats coming to Grand Central Madison for LIRR riders, MTA says
The MTA recently installed customer seating in the mezzanine of Grand Central Madison. The agency head said Wednesday it was "learning from this success." Credit: Metropolitan Transportation Auth/Marc A. Hermann
The MTA will add more seating for Long Island Rail Road customers at Grand Central Madison, the agency’s chairman announced Wednesday.
Janno Lieber made the announcement at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s monthly board meeting, where he noted the popularity of a seating area recently constructed at one of eight stairway and escalator landings linking to Grand Central Madison’s track levels.
Newsday reported last week that even with the 28 new seats, LIRR riders have said more seating in the station’s mezzanine level is needed. The station’s only other seatings area is located on the concourse level, which is separated from the mezzanine by the longest escalators in the MTA system.
Asked last week about whether the MTA planned to add more seating at Grand Central, Lieber said the MTA would wait to see how the lone new mezzanine seating area was used before deciding next steps.
On Wednesday, Lieber said "learning from this success," the MTA would provide more options for LIRR customers to take a load off.
"All of a sudden, people are very happy to take advantage (of the new seats.) And we’re going to actually expand that seating to other areas in the mezzanine," Lieber said. "People are not using the waiting area that we built upstairs in the concourse, so we are putting some seats in downstairs."
Lieber did not give more details of how many more seats would be added, and where they would be located.
Grand Central Madison opened in February 2023, following nearly two decades of planning and construction. Lieber said around 40% of the LIRR's Manhattan commuters now use the station.
"The size of the crowds is real," Lieber said.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.
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