Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines, serving the northern parts of the New York metropolitan area. It also contains a connection to the New York City Subway at Grand Central–42nd Street station. The terminal is the second-busiest train station in North America, after New York Penn Station.

The distinctive architecture and interior design of Grand Central Terminal's station house have earned it several landmark designations, including as a National Historic Landmark. Its Beaux-Arts design incorporates numerous works of art. Grand Central Terminal is one of the world's ten most-visited tourist attractions, with 21.6 million visitors in 2018, excluding train and subway passengers. The terminal's Main Concourse is often used as a meeting place, and is especially featured in films and television. Grand Central Terminal contains a variety of stores and food vendors, including upscale restaurants and bars, a food hall, and a grocery marketplace. The building is also noted for its libraries, event hall, tennis club, control center and offices for the railroad, and sub-basement power station.

Grand Central Terminal was built by and named for the New York Central Railroad; it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and, later, successors to the New York Central. Opened in 1913, the terminal was built on the site of two similarly-named predecessor stations, the first of which dated to 1871. Grand Central Terminal served intercity trains until 1991, when Amtrak began routing its trains through nearby Penn Station. The East Side Access project, which will bring Long Island Rail Road service to the new Grand Central Madison station beneath the terminal, is expected to begin service by the end of 2022.

Grand Central covers and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 30 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower. In total, there are 67 tracks, including a rail yard and sidings; of these, 43 tracks are in use for passenger service, while the remaining two dozen are used to store trains. Another eight tracks and four platforms are being built on two new levels deep underneath the existing station as part of East Side Access.

Name

Grand Central Terminal was named by and for the New York Central Railroad, which built the station and its two predecessors on the site. It has "always been more colloquially and affectionately known as Grand Central Station", the name of its immediate predecessor that operated from 1900 to 1910. The name "Grand Central Station" is also shared with the nearby U.S. Post Office station at 450 Lexington Avenue and, colloquially, with the Grand Central–42nd Street subway station next to the terminal.

Services

Commuter rail

Grand Central Terminal serves some 67 million passengers a year, more than any other Metro-North station. During morning rush hour, a train arrives at the terminal every 58 seconds.

Three of Metro-North's five main lines terminate at Grand Central:
* Harlem Line to Wassaic, New York
* Hudson Line to Poughkeepsie, New York (Amtrak connection to Albany)
* New Haven Line to New Haven, Connecticut (Amtrak connection to Hartford, Springfield, Boston; Shore Line East to New London)
** New Canaan Branch to New Canaan, Connecticut
** Danbury Branch to Danbury, Connecticut
** Waterbury Branch to Waterbury, Connecticut

Through these lines, the terminal serves Metro-North commuters traveling to and from the Bronx in New York City; Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York; and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut.

Connecting services

The New York City Subway's adjacent Grand Central–42nd Street station serves the following routes:
* ( IRT Lexington Avenue Line), situated diagonally under the Pershing Square Building/110 East 42nd Street, 42nd Street, and Grand Hyatt New York
* ( IRT Flushing Line), under 42nd Street between Park Avenue and west of Third Avenue
* (42nd Street Shuttle), under 42nd Street between Madison Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue

These MTA Regional Bus Operations buses stop near Grand Central:

* NYCT Bus:
** local buses at Madison Avenue (northbound) and Fifth Avenue (southbound)
** express buses at Madison Avenue (northbound)
** express buses at Fifth Avenue (southbound)
** local bus at 42nd Street
** local buses at Third Avenue (northbound) and Lexington Avenue (southbound)
** express buses at Third Avenue (northbound)
** express buses at Lexington Avenue (southbound)
** SIM23 and SIM24 express buses at Madison Avenue (northbound) and Fifth Avenue (southbound)
* MTA Bus:
** express buses at Madison Avenue (northbound) and Fifth Avenue (southbound)
** express bus at Lexington Avenue (southbound)
** express buses at Third Avenue (northbound)
**

Former services

The terminal and its predecessors were designed for intercity service, which operated from the first station building's completion in 1871 until Amtrak ceased operations in the terminal in 1991. Through transfers, passengers could connect to all major lines in the United States, including the '' Canadian'', the '' Empire Builder'', the '' San Francisco Zephyr'', the '' Southwest