New Grand Central Madison entrance coming for LIRR commuters

A new office tower coming to Manhattan's East Side will bring a new way for Long Island commuters to access Grand Central Madison, project officials said Tuesday.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials joined representatives from Boston-based developer BXP to break ground on an effort to construct a new entrance and exit to Grand Central Madison at 45th Street and Madison Avenue.

The privately funded entrance is part of a larger effort to construct a 950,000-square-foot building at the former site of the MTA's corporate headquarters on Madison Avenue. The MTA, which still owns the land on which the tower will be built, said it stands to get about $1 billion in revenue from the development of the property.

Before the developers begin work on the tower, they will construct the entrance, which is expected to be finished by mid-2026, officials said.

"We cannot wait any longer for the entrance to the Grand Central Madison facility to be built," MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said.

The new, fully accessible entrance at 45th Street will join five others leading directly to the LIRR station from street level. It will include two new escalators, an elevator and a staircase leading directly to the customer concourse at Grand Central Madison.

MTA officials have said that use of Grand Central Madison has steadily increased since its opening in 2023. The station set a new morning ridership record on Sept. 10, when nearly 26,000 Long Island Rail Road customers arrived at the station.

"With more and more people using Grand Central Madison, this street entrance will be a welcomed addition to the terminal’s footprint in Midtown Manhattan," LIRR President Robert Free said in a statement.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

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.