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MTA Awards More Than $625M in East Side Access Project Contracts

By Ben Fractenberg | April 16, 2014 1:40pm
East Side Access Project in Queens
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MTA

MIDTOWN — The MTA awarded two contracts worth $627.79 million as part of the East Side Access project bringing the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal. 

Tutor Perini Corporation was awarded $333.59 million to install communications systems in Grand Central’s future LIRR concourse, while Frontier-Kemper Constructors is getting $294.2 million to build concrete lining and embed mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in the recently excavated tunnels north of the terminal, according to MTA officials.

“Tunnels that have been drilled through Manhattan bedrock will be waterproofed and lined with concrete and readied for tracks,” Michael Horodniceanu, President of MTA Capital Construction, said in a statement.

 Workers in the new tunnel the MTA is building between Queens and Manhattan as part of the East Side Access project Sept. 20, 2012.
Workers in the new tunnel the MTA is building between Queens and Manhattan as part of the East Side Access project Sept. 20, 2012.
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Metropolitan Transportation Authority/Nichole Guernsey

"A cavern that is presently a raw concrete space will get communications networks that will be used by tens of thousands of people each day. When Long Island Rail Road riders come to Grand Central, the systems that will be put in place through these contracts will serve as an unseen backbone making train service possible,” Horodniceanu added.

The communications systems will include telephone, two-way radio, public address, digital signs and fire detection, according to the MTA.

In addition to building the concrete lining, Frontier-Kemper will also rehabilitate the 63rd Street Tunnel running under the East River, which was built in the early 1970s.

The firm will also finish the underground portion of two ventilation facilities at 50th and 55th streets, the MTA added.

When completed, the East Side Access project will connect trains from 11 LIRR branches to the new Grand Central concourse.

The project is expected to be completed between Sept. 2020 and Sept. 2021 and cost $9.3 billion, an MTA spokesman said.