Video, Audio, B-Roll, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Marks East Side Access Milestone With LIRR Test Ride to Grand Central

Thank you, Janno, and what a celebration of collaboration. That's exactly what we experienced today as we had the narrated ride in from Jamaica Station to come here, to get a sense of what our customers will soon be experiencing, literally just over one year from now. As you can see, the construction continues, but it continues at a rate that was not going on before Janno Lieber took the helm at the MTA.

I'm so proud of the work that has been done in the past by so many talented individuals who put their heart and soul into projects like these, the men and women of labor, the people who from the Long Island Rail Road. Phil Eng for his leadership, Anthony Simon, incredible, incredible people, who've made a difference. And the whole focus of this, and will be the hallmark of my administration going forward, is to identify infrastructure projects that need to be accomplished to make the customer experience extraordinary.

Everyone who lives downstate, Long Island, New York City, they deserve this. This is the greatest region on the earth, and it deserves to have the best transportation networks as well. And our disadvantage has been that our transportation network started a century ago, way before other parts of the country had developed them, so we have aging infrastructure and much more demand. And to have responded with this incredible facility, engineering like there's never been done, fourteen miles of new track, much of it underground. And to do this, continuing this during a pandemic, please don't overlook the incredible work that was done when other people were able to zoom into their jobs and these individuals showed up day after day after day, despite the risks to themselves. I want to applaud everyone involved in this. One year from now, a little over one year from now, the 162,000 customers will say, wow. And this is not a trick. This is going to be the treat for them as we make these announcements and had this ride on Halloween here.

I also want to say, this is how we're going to continue our work. I have identified so many more projects that need to be activated and to get people back to work and to give our customers, our riders, a sense of optimism as we're coming through the dark pandemic era, they need to know that we are not relenting, and I offered to deliver them incredible services by amazing, amazing workers here.

We're going to be reducing commute times. That's music to everyone's ears. That means you can take a little longer getting ready in the morning. That means you're going to see your kids sooner at the end of the day, reducing the roundtrip commute by forty minutes. Every minute matters when you're a commuter. That's going to be extraordinary.

We're going to increase the LIRR capacity to Manhattan by 45 percent. So, the crowded trains that people have been accustomed to that will be no longer. We're also going to extend the Metro North Railroad into Penn Station for the first time. Let's get that done, gets these projects finished, and we're going to have better connections to Metro North Railroad.

Also, you think about, we're going to get more people saying yes, I do want to have that experience. More people will be saying, I'll take mass transit, I'll take the train. Instead of taking their vehicles, that'll affect the overall air quality here as well.

So, this economic development project is also an economic development project above us. We are 150 feet underground, which is amazing. This is the largest project of its kind in the country, but the sensitivity that was undertaken in the engineering of this project, literally to have buffers and cushioning so the noise does disrupt the thousands of workers above, that is a forward thinking. I want to applaud everybody who made that happen as well.

So, I'm excited. This is the largest commuter rails unit built in the United States since the 1950s, high five to everybody for getting that done extraordinary. And also we're going to be having easier access from JFK airport as well via the AirTran to the Jamaica Station.

So, we got it done, almost done. I'm very excited. We're almost done, but this is a major milestone. And I thank all of you for coming out on an early Sunday morning to celebrate this. And again, to thank everybody who's been involved and all the people you don't see here today for what they've done. This is how I celebrate Halloween. I come out and say, this is a real treat for the New York City region and Long Island. So I thank you very much.