Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal originated as a central hub for the Hudson River, New York and Harlem, and New York and New Haven Railroads. Cornelius Vanderbilt, after merging the Hudson River and New York Central Railroads, commissioned architect John B. Snook to design Grand Central Depot, completed in 1871. Subsequent expansions in 1895 and 1900 couldn’t handle rising traffic, and after a deadly crash in 1902, steam locomotives were banned in Manhattan. 

This led to William J. Wilgus’s proposal for a new electrified underground terminal, approved in 1903, and completed in 1913.

The terminal's late-1990s renovation added stands and restaurants to the dining concourse, and installed escalators to link it to the main concourse level. The MTA also spent $2.2 million to install two circular terrazzo designs by David Rockwell and Beyer Blinder Belle, each 45 feet in diameter, over the concourse's original terrazzo floor.  The hall was renovated and renamed Vanderbilt Hall after the family that built and owned the station.

In 2007 it seemed like a good idea to connect the Long Island Railroad (America's busiest commuter railroad) with Grand Central Terminal.  It took $11 billion and over a decade to make East Side Access into a reality.  The five block concourse is 17 stories below grade requiring nearly two minutes to descend via the MTA's longest escalator to the track level.