Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Station

Built by and named for the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger trains, Grand Central Terminal is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms: 44, with 67 tracks along them. They are on two levels, both below ground, with 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower.

It serves commuters traveling on the Metro-North Railroad to Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York State, and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut.

Although it has been properly called "Grand Central Terminal" since 1913, many people continue to refer to it as "Grand Central Station". Technically, that is the name of the nearby post office, as well as the name of a previous rail station on the site.

Besides train platforms, Grand Central contains restaurants (the most famous of which is the Oyster Bar) and fast food outlets (surrounding the Dining Concourse on the level below the Main Concourse), delis, bakeries, newsstands, a gourmet and fresh food market, an annex of the New York Transit Museum and more than forty retail stores.

A "secret" sub-basement known as M42 lies under the Terminal, containing the AC to DC converters used to supply DC traction current to the Terminal. The exact location of M42 remains a closely guarded secret and cannot be found on maps. The original rotary converters were not removed in the late 20th century when solid state ones took over their job, and they remain for the purpose of historical record.

Location: 71-105 East 42nd Street, New York City
Coordinates: 40°45′9.8″N, 73°58′35.48″W
Built/Founded: 1903
Architect: Warren and Wetmore; Reed & Stem
Architectural style: Beaux-Arts
Designated as National Historic Landmark: December 8, 1976 [1]
Added to NRHP: January 17, 1975
August 11, 1983 (increase) [2]
NRHP Reference#: 75001206
83001726 (increase)
Governing body: Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Grand Central Station 2

Size

Covers 49 acres (20 ha) of land, 33 miles (53 km) of track, 44 platforms
Trains
660 Metro-North commuter trains
Commuters
About 125,000 a day
Visitors
over 500,000 a day
Cost of renovation 1996–98
$250 million
Retail businesses
103
Retail space
130,524 square feet plus 14,000 square feet of event space
Oldest business
Oyster Bar, opened 1913
Meals served in terminal daily
10,000
Percentage of trains on time
98
Items in lost and found
19,000
Most frequently lost item
Coats [up to 2,000 a year]
Return rate for lost items
Over 60%, close to 98% for computers and