LIRR Massapequa Station Overhaul Is Half Done

Massapequa, LI, NY, August 23, 2014 – The first half of the $40-million reconstruction of the LIRR’s Massapequa station is completed. Beginning on Monday August 25th, the second phase will begin. The project started in the spring of 2013. The current station that was grade separated in 1953.

One of the major features of the project will be the installation of a new pocket track just east of the station as a part of the East Side Access in order to short-turn trains around for the return trip to Manhattan instead of reaching Babylon first.

Currently it serves 6,000 weekday commuters.

Photo caption: A NY Penn Station-bound LIRR M-7 train approaches the 1953 Massapequa station platform after departing from Massapequa Park on Long Island. just to the east of this older platform is where the short-turn track will be built as part of the East Side Access project.

GCT's "Whispering Gallery" Gets A Renovation

Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan, July, 2012 - One of the seven secrets of Grand Central Terminal is getting a facelift of sorts. The tile work known as the famous "whispering gallery" in front of the Oyster Bar restaurant on the Lower Level of GCT is being repaired. Historians needn't worry because the only change to occur is a simple - replace weakened mortar and reset the tiles resulting in a lot cleaner and brighter entire space. 

Metro-North currently is the sole rail user of the almost century-old structure and will be joined by Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) when East Side Access is completed. Amtrak has used the structure in the past as they moved their operations to New York's Penn Station in the early 1990s, vacated with some rare emergency uses - the last of which saw the return of the NY Central observation car 'Hickory Creek' (of the famous 20th Century Ltd passenger train) to GCT for the first time in 40 years.