Long Escalator Links to Long Island Rail Road

This photo, submitted by Kimberly Thomas to the ELEVATOR WORLD 2024 Photo Contest, shows the nerve-racking view passengers have as they ascend from Grand Central Madison to the historic Grand Central Terminal in NYC. The 182-ft-long moving stairs connect passengers to the first new Manhattan terminal for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in more than a century. Installed by Schindler, these 17 units are the Manhattan Transit Authority’s longest.

The ride down to the LIRR mezzanines takes about 1 min and 38 s — dropping 90 ft vertically. The speed was selected with the goal of providing a comfortable, non-vertigo-inducing experience for commuters. It’s hard to keep these good intentions in mind when the trip can feel like “a descent into hell,” as Curbed writer Adriane Quinlan put it. Passengers have noted that the six-story journey can be “scary” and feel like an “amusement park” ride. 

Including the extra-long units, Schindler delivered a total of 41 escalators and 20 elevators for the Grand Central Madison subway stations, which opened on February 27, 2023. 

References

[1] curbed.com/2023/01/grand-central-madisons-escalators-are-very-long.html

[2] elevatorworld.com/news/daily-news/schindler-provides-61-unit-vt-system-for-new-grand-madison-station