New Price Tag For LIRR East Side Access Project More Than $8 Billion
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The project to link the Long Island Rail Road to the East Side of Manhattan now has a price tag of more than $8 billion.
The final cost is more than 30 percent above the original estimate.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials also reiterated Monday that the new completion date for the project is August 2019. The East Side Access project was supposed to wrap up by 2016.
MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota had revealed the delay earlier this month at a meeting of business leaders on Long Island.
He said there have been problems tunneling underneath a rail yard in Queens. The MTA has brought in experts from Europe to help with developing a plan going forward.
The MTA is building the new tunnel under the East River to allow LIRR trains access to Grand Central Terminal. Now, all LIRR trains go to Penn Station.
For more information about the project, click here.
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