Grand Central Terminal - NYC

Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter, rapid transit (and former intercity) railroad terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Built by and named for the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger rail travel, it covers 48 acres (19 ha) and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 30 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though only 43 tracks are currently in use for passenger service. The total number of tracks along platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100.

The terminal serves commuters traveling on the Metro-North Railroad to Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York, as well as to Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut. Until 1991, the terminal served Amtrak, which moved to nearby Pennsylvania Station upon completion of the Empire Connection. The East Side Access project is underway to bring Long Island Rail Road service to the terminal.

Grand Central Terminal has intricate designs both on its inside and outside. In addition, it contains a vast interior main concourse. The terminal is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, with 21.9 million visitors in 2013.

Unlike other Metro-North stations, Grand Central Terminal is not owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, but by a private company known as Midtown TDR Ventures.

Although the terminal has been officially called "Grand Central Terminal" since the present structure opened, it has "always been more colloquially and affectionately known as Grand Central Station", a name of one of the earlier railroad stations on the same site. "Grand Central Station" is the name of the nearby U.S. Post Office station at 450 Lexington Avenue, but may also refer to the Grand Central–42nd Street subway station that is located next to the terminal.

The tracks are numbered according to their location in the terminal building. The upper-level tracks are numbered 11 to 42 east to west. Tracks 22 and 31 were removed in the late 1990s to build concourses for Grand Central North. Track 12 was removed to expand the platform between tracks 11 and 13 and track 14 is only used for loading a garbage train. The lower level has 27 tracks, numbered 100 to 126, east to west; currently, only tracks 102–112, and 114–116 are used for passenger service. Odd-numbered tracks are usually on the east side (right side facing north) of the platform; even-numbered tracks on the west.

Grand Central Terminal has both monumental spaces and meticulously crafted detail, especially on its facade. In a February 2013 BBC News article, historian David Cannadine described it as one of the most majestic buildings of the twentieth century. In 2013, Grand Central Terminal hosted 21.6 million visitors, putting it among the ten most-visited tourist attractions in the world.

Its interior has restaurants, such as the Oyster Bar, and various fast food outlets surrounding the Dining Concourse on the level below the Main Concourse, as well as delis, bakeries, newsstands, a gourmet and fresh food market, an annex of the New York Transit Museum, and more than 40 retail stores. Among them are chain stores, including a Starbucks coffee shop, a Rite Aid pharmacy and, as of December 2011, an Apple Store. Other chain restaurants include a Shake Shack.

Grand Central Terminal's 49-acre (20 ha) basements are among the largest in the city. This includes M42, a "secret" sub-basement under the terminal that contains the AC to DC converters used to supply DC traction current to the tracks. The exact location of M42 is a closely guarded secret and does not appear on maps, though it has been shown on the History Channel program Cities of the Underworld and a National Geographic special. Two of the original rotary converters were not removed in the late 20th century when solid-state ones took over their job, and they remain as a historical record. During World War II, this facility was closely guarded because its sabotage would have impaired troop movement on the Eastern Seaboard. It is said that any unauthorized person entering the facility during the war risked being shot on sight; the rotary converters could have easily been crippled by a bucket of sand. Abwehr (a German espionage service) sent two spies to sabotage it; they were arrested by the FBI before they could strike.

The terminal is made primarily from granite. In fact, so much granite is used that the building emits relatively high levels of radiation.

Midtown TDR Ventures has owned the station since 2006, when Argent Ventures transferred ownership of the station. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that is the parent of Metro-North, holds a lease until 2274.

The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. At 275 ft (84 m) long by 120 ft (37 m) wide by 125 ft (38 m) high, The ticket booths are here, although many now stand unused or have been repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines. The large American flag was hung in Grand Central Terminal a few days after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The main information booth is in the center of the concourse. The four-faced brass clock on top of the information booth, perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central, was designed by Henry Edward Bedford and cast in Waterbury, Connecticut. Each of the four clock faces is made from opalescent glass (now often called opal glass or milk glass), though urban legend has it that the faces are made of opal and that Sotheby's and Christie's have estimated their value to be between $10 million and $20 million. A 1954 New York Times article on the restoration of the clock notes that "Each of the glass faces was twenty-four inches in diameter...." Within the marble and brass pagoda lies a "secret" door that conceals a spiral staircase leading to the lower-level information booth.

Outside the station, the 13-foot (4.0 m) clock in front of the Grand Central façade facing 42nd Street contains the world's largest example of Tiffany glass. It is surrounded by the Glory of Commerce sculptural group, which includes representations of Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury. The sculptures were designed by French sculptor Jules-Felix Coutan and carved by the John Donnelly Company. At its unveiling in 1914, the 48-foot-high (15 m) trio was considered the largest sculptural group in the world.

The upper-level tracks are reached from the Main Concourse or from various hallways and passages branching off from it. On the east side of the Main Concourse is a cluster of food purveyor shops called Grand Central Market.

Grand Central Terminal was an innovation in transit-hub design and continues to influence designers. One new concept was the use of ramps, rather than staircases, to conduct passengers and luggage through the facility. Another was wrapping Park Avenue around the Terminal above the street, creating a second level for picking up and dropping off of passengers. As airline travel replaced railroads in the latter half of the 20th century, Grand Central design innovations were later incorporated into the hub airport.

Grand Central Terminal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

The Grand Central Terminal Park Avenue Viaduct was added to the National Register in 1983.

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