MTA officials promised Thursday that the Long Island Rail Road’s Jamaica hub can handle the complex new schedule needed to serve Grand Central after a slew of rush-hour meltdowns added to the furor from commuters over the timetable changes.
The promises came after The Post revealed the existence of a 2012 capacity study ordered by the LIRR that found a similar schedule would result in frequent mass delays because it would overtax the station without major capacity improvements, which won’t be completed until 2027.
“Jamaica’s not going to be falling over because it’s not falling over right now,” MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said during a press conference at LIRR’s new $11.2 billion underground terminal at Grand Central, known as Grand Central Madison.
“We’re having a period of adjustment and, as we’ve said, we’re making adjustments to facilitate it,” he added. “And you’ve seen improvement in the service every day.”
Lieber and the MTA commuter railroad boss Cathy Rinaldi — she serves as head of Metro-North in addition to her role as the interim chief of the LIRR — also announced a slew of schedule changes that aimed to reduce the crowding at Jamaica and the crush loads onboard trains running to Penn Station.
The tweaks involve moving several trains currently serving Grand Central back to serving the West Side and adding new stops for some trains running between Brentwood and Manhattan so riders can make transfers before getting to Queens.
These new adjustments come on top of tweaks made to the schedules this week that lengthened roughly 30 trains running into Penn Station and upped the frequency of the controversial new shuttle service running between Jamaica and Brooklyn from every 12 minutes at peak to every seven to eight minutes.
“The first week of the new timetables was tough as customers adjusted and, frankly, as the MTA adjusted to address the issues that emerged,” Lieber said. “But we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made this week and we’re going to continue to make adjustments as we go.”
The changes to the schedule include: