The massive project to bring the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal is delayed, an MTA official said Friday.
“I haven’t heard the update yet on the projected time, but we don’t think we will make 2019,” said Craig Stewart, senior director of the authority’s capital programs, during a state assembly oversight hearing on the MTA.
He also said the costs of the $8.24 billion project are “slipping.”
An update on its cost and timeline will be given to the MTA board next month.
Called East Side Access, it is the largest construction project in the U.S. and was expected to be finished in August 2019.
Initially, it had been scheduled to open in 2009, and cost only $4.3 billion, according to a report by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Other dates that have been blown include a now-past April 2018 deadline.
Challenges have included working around a busy signal system used by the LIRR, Amtrak, and New Jersey Transit.
Amtrak’s work to rehabilitate it East River tunnels has also caused snags.
The project will bring the LIRR to a new terminal beneath Grand Central, shortening commutes for riders from Long Island and Queens heading to Manhattan’s East Side.
The project includes eight tracks for the railroad, as well as a concourse, mezzanine, and 22,000 square feet of retail space.
It is expected to serve 162,000 customers a day, and the project is the first expansion of the LIRR in over 100 years.
The MTA finished blasting last April, after using more than 2,400 controlled explosions to carve out space below Grand Central.