Vanderbilt Yard delay well less than that of East Side Access, now due in 2023

Hey, remember East Side Access, Long Island Rail Road service to Grand Central Station in Midtown East (as opposed to Penn Station in Midtown West)?

It was once supposed to begin in 2016, which meant that delays in the revamped Vanderbilt Yard, which would enhance shuttle service between Jamaica and Brooklyn, could have been problematic.

The new Vanderbilt Yard has been delayed numerous times, but is now almost finished. Forest City Ratner in 2005 agreed to build a nine-track yard that can accommodate 76 train cars but, with the 2009 renegotiation, got the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to agree to a seven-track yard holding 56 cars.

East Side Access is even more delayed. As the Daily News reported 9/19/19, in MTA seeks another $798 million to finish East Side Access project long plagued by delays and rising costs, the completion date is now projected as 2022, 13 years behind the original schedule, while the $11.1 billion estimated cost is $6.8 billion more than the original projection.

Here's the MTA 2024 Capital Program (see p. 222, for the cost increase).