B-Roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Celebrates Completion of LIRR Main Line Third Track on Time and Under Budget

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul celebrated the completion of the Long Island Rail Road's historic Third Track project on time and under budget. The new 9.8-mile track runs from Floral Park to Hicksville, giving the railroad more operational flexibility to minimize service disruptions and increase service by 41 percent systemwide when Grand Central Madison opens later this year, while improving safety and creating true bi-directional LIRR service to fuel the local economy.

B-ROLL of Governor Hochul riding the new LIRR Third Track is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

Good morning. The day has finally arrived. I understand that this concept of a third track has been, actually dates back to when Newsday called for it back in the 1940s. Is that possible? Anybody remember reading that? No. Hopefully none of you here are that old, but that's the folklore and I'll stick with that.

This is an exciting day and I, first of all, want to acknowledge some of the individuals who are here starting with Janno Lieber. He'll be speaking shortly, but what an amazing leader, helping get this over the finish line and truly is a visionary. The person who's met the moment of this day and made sure that we're doing everything we can to be responsive and adapt to the needs of this incredible place known as Long Island.

I also want to recognize Catherine Rinaldi, the President of the LIRR, who's been doing an amazing job stepping into a lot of ongoing projects, but getting the job done. Anthony Simon, the General Chairman of SMART, representing some of the hardest working men and women in labor today. Thank you. And also we'll be hearing from someone named Robin Allen, who has a very powerful story to tell about the impact that projects like these actually have in real people's lives. That elusive concept called time, what time means, and you can have more time back in your lives because of the transportation systems that actually work for you. And it's not just being there on time and saving time, it's also having an experience of going through beautiful stations and having connectivity. So, that's what this is all about.

I just had a chance to ride a little bit of the train. Had a nice time, met some very friendly people. Long Island's a really friendly place. But also directed - I know raise your knowledge, but I do want to give a special shout-out to Steve Bellone as well. What a leader he has been. Truly. I also, I know a lot of people were behind this way back. I mentioned Newsday, there's been elected officials. I give credit to the past administration that started under my predecessor. Also, at the time Majority Leader John Flanagan was really a driver behind this project, and I want to thank him for making sure that the resources are there.

But also, you got local leaders. I come out of local government. You need the buy-in from the local mayors and the supervisors. And Mayor Pete Cavallaro. I want to thank you, Mayor Pete. We have our own Mayor Pete, so I want to thank you for really breaking down the barriers and sort of the human reaction where people are opposed change. They don't understand it, they don't welcome change, and you have really been a visionary to make sure that people here on Long Island benefit from projects like these. But also I commend you for being a leader in projects like transit-oriented development, building over 200 homes for people right here, so you don't need a car, you can live here, take the trains in. And I want to thank you for doing that as well.

So, here's also what we're talking about. We also talk about the many phases of this project. And as Lieutenant Governor, I was able to be there for much of the ceremony, and I was there when we were in North Hempstead to do the first bridge replacement at Cherry Lane, and now we finally have nearly 10 miles, a stretch of the LIRR Main Line, from Floral Park to Hicksville. This was just a dream. You really have to appreciate that this was so visionary and actually got done. And so, I want to thank everybody who was part of this challenge, overcame the hurdles, and really having the guts to complete it, the guts to complete it during a pandemic. Let me put an exclamation point on that. The workers showed up. The men and women of labor, the team from MTA. They showed up during a pandemic so we could be here today.

And what does this mean for Long Islanders? Well, it's great, they all start with the letter F: Fewer delays, faster commutes, and more frequent trips. I think that just about gives us an A for all those, not an F. That's an A. And I want to thank everybody and made sure that we can work on it. So today, we give you back a gift, the gift of time. But also, when we have the East Side Access Project, complete in Grand Central Madison, opens later this year. We're going to see a 40 percent increase in LIRR service. I mean, that's astounding. Forty percent increase. In Westbury alone, it'll go from 64 trains on weekdays to 95. You'll save commuters heading into East Midtown up to 40 minutes a day. Now, what would you do with an extra 40 minutes a day? Probably exercise, take some walks, listen to podcasts, maybe pack up your kids' lunch in the morning, spend a little more time with your family because time is priceless. Can you imagine 40 more minutes in your day?

But this Third Track didn't just improve train service, it improves the experience on the trains themselves. I just rode one, and Robin and I were talking about the fact that you could actually charge your cellphone on the train, so you're not held captive to going into the station and running along the floor trying to find an outlet. And we've all lived that experience. More ADA accessibility, including ADA eight accessible underpasses. More cameras for safety. Janno and I announced this a couple of weeks ago. We want our customers to feel safe every single time they're in any part of our entire infrastructure system, our commuting system. And it starts by putting trains and cameras right on the trains themselves. So I said we have more Wi-Fi stations, more charging stations, shelters and benches, and longer platforms, more bike racks so you can ride your bike there, plazas with green space, and more commuter parking. The parking garage we're in right now, which is MTA-funded. So, all of these changes are going to make an incredible change for our commuters. And also, the part I love as well: The jobs that were created with this project. Over 1300 full-time construction jobs right here in Nassau County.

And also, creating relationships and partnerships with the neighboring communities to help them as well and replacing — and I want to thank the neighbors, too. A lot of times neighbors can be not real excited about changes like this coming to their neighborhood — the disruption, the construction projects. We had to replace seven bridges and eliminate eight street-level grate crossings. And so, what that does for the neighbors, it eliminates the sounds, the sounds of train horns and crossing bells and just lets you sleep a little bit better. So that is also a quality of life issue. But we also engaged the neighbors and allowed them to rate the experience they were having, right Janno? They actually gave scorecards to the projects and the people in charge that were evaluated based on what the neighbors said about the project. This is a whole new way of thinking about how government does its work, and so I want to thank everybody who came up with the ideas, but also the responsiveness to the neighbors as well.

So, we're going to have fewer cars on the road, more reliable transit options — 53 reverse peak trains every weekday. I mean, this is visionary. And I want to thank people like Robin Allen, you can hear from shortly, she's going to talk about what this does to her commuting experience as well. She works at 1199. She's a home health care aid, Robin, we just talked about that experience. God bless the home health care aids who allow our seniors to age in place. And her parents are living down in Fort Myers right now. We send our prayers to all of our friends in Florida. But Robin, I can't wait to hear you talk about what this does for people with jobs like yours, so you can have the reliability you need and the speed you need to get to your job and get a little bit time back in your life.

So, it'll lead to stronger communities, stronger neighborhoods, and all of a sudden, and this is Janno's favorite line, I'm sure he wants to say it himself, but we are under budget. We are under budget. Congratulations - about a hundred million dollars under budget. Ahead of schedule, under budget. Every time I say, "Janno Lieber, ahead of schedule, under budget." That's sort of the narrative. So don't change that. So, we're building the future right here, and it's a huge, huge milestone for commuters and visitors alike. And again, this is part of over $17 billion worth of projects underway, a hundred projects, to transform and modernize the LIRR.

So, I can't wait to keep riding it, and I look forward to many more opportunities like this, but this is the completion of a long, long ride. And it's docked right here in Westbury. And again, congratulations to everybody who had a part to play in this, and we are transforming people's lives every single day. So, Janno Lieber, come on up and tell us how exciting, how easy it was to get this done.