The Rumble Underfoot at 60th Street

MTA Deputy Director of Media Relations, Jeremy Soffin, sends this along:

As you know, the first tunnel boring machine for the East Side Access project has been chewing its way under Manhattan for almost a month, and we just wanted to provide a short update. The machine has now tunneled approximately 1,350 feet. While the machine generally averages 50 feet per day, we had a record performance yesterday of 114 feet. The machine is now operating underneath 60th Street near Lexington Avenue. In total, the machine will bore approximately 7,200 feet total to 38th street. A second TBM has been assembled in the “launch box” at 63rd Street and 2nd Avenue and will begin tunneling a parallel tube shortly.

East Side Access will bring LIRR trains into Grand Central Terminal for the first time.

You can find more information on the construction here.

Photo: robert the bear/Flickr