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Inside the construction of New York's new subterranean railroad

Inside the construction of New York's new subterranean railroad

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NYC Subway Tunnel (Wired)
NYC Subway Tunnel (Wired)

Beneath New York's streets, construction crews are stealthily working on the largest public transit infrastructure project in the US. In an effort to increase the capacity of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is excavating tunnels 120 feet below Manhattan streets and connecting them to a new Grand Central terminal — shortening travel time for Long Island and Queens commuters. Wired takes a look into the MTA's $4.45 billion East Side Access project, detailing how engineers are protecting workers and local residents from tunnel collapses and what the authority is doing to improve the lives of an estimated 160,000 people when it's due for completion in 2019.