Largest New York rail P3 proposed
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has appointed a consultant to assess the feasibility of a P3 for the operations and maintenance of the new section of the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) that will connect Queens with the Grand Central terminal, as well as completion of a new station.
The project will provide rail tunnels for the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan's east side. The new LIRR East Side station, 90 feet under Grand Central Terminal, will offer new entrances, a concourse totalling 300,000 square feet, eight tracks on four platforms lower than the existing Metro-North lower level tracks, and a mid-level mezzanine. It is the largest project ever undertaken by the MTA.
According to a source close to the project: "It would be a very major leap for anything in New York to take that kind of [P3] approach [but] I think they may be willing to experiment with a part of it."
Initial findings have shown there is likely to be some value of money from a P3 approach, he added.
Over the last year, a number of high profile port and bridge projects in New York have been mooted as P3s but failed to materialise. However the source said he has seen "a fairly significant shift in mood in recent months" towards the use of private finance, as public funding reaches capacity.
