East Side Access estimate moved to 2019

The New York mega project with a USD 7.3bn price tag originally had an end date of 2013, while other estimates suggested 2018. Recent analysis has shown the project would more likely finish in 2019, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) chairman and CEO Joseph Lhota said Tuesday.

His comments, made at the Long Island Association, are not official, according to the MTA, which is maintaining the 2018 completion.

According to the MTA’s official statement, "one preliminary analysis of risk factors has indicated the completion date may move to 2019, as East Side Access construction intensifies in the busiest passenger rail yard and the largest passenger rail interchange in the nation.”

The project will connect the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) in Queens to a new terminal beneath Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. Delays are also due to challenging terrain in the Queens portion of the project, where workers are dealing with a soil mixture of sand, clay and boulders with a high water table.

Two slurry TBMs are excavating four tunnels for a total of 10,500ft (3.2km). The tunnels are shallow and located beneath Amtrak's Sunnyside Yard and LIRR’s Harold Interlocking, both of which are active.

Lhota told the Long Island Association work has run into springs and brooks that nobody knew existed below the surface, as reported by the Long Island Business News.