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[steve4031]

I decided to take a round trip to New York City over the Presidents Day weekend on the Lake Shore Limited. The trip out was consistent with many other trips. Left on time, flex dining and an enjoyable ride in day light from Erie to New York City. One annoyance was that I usually order cereal with my continental breakfast but was told no by this attendant. I could have the sandwich or cereal but not both.

We arrived into New York on time or a few minutes early. I made my pilgrimage to Pizza Suprema and then took an Uber to my hotel. For this trip I stayed at the Grayson. This is a new Hyatt property on 39th street and 5th avenue a few blocks from Grand Central. Ive become dissatisfied with Hiltons lack of consistency and am gradually shifting over to Hyatt. This property excelled with a fast, polite check in. The room was small, expected in NYC, but well designed and comfortable. Breakfast the next morning was perfect. The bacon outstanding.

I walked over to Grand Central and had lunch at Lukes Lobsters Rolls. This is located in the lower level where the other food outlets are located. Expensive, but excellent. Not too filling.

I expected that there would be clear signage for getting from Grand Central to the East Side Access terminal. There wasnt. I am glad I did online research before leaving the hotel. The MTA website gives clear instructions and includes a map. Once I left the restaurant I looked for track 112. I found track 112 but did not see any obvious signs for access to the new station. I wondered upstairs to the main concourse and took pictures and then asked for directions to the new terminal. I was directed back down to track 112. There are platforms on each side of track 112. The platform on the left side leads to East Side Access. I figured this out the hard way by walking on the right side of the track 112 until I saw the new entrance. There was no sign to telling me this was the entrance. My online research and the photos of the new terminal that I remembered clued me in. I walked back and into the new entrance.

I then took a long escalator down to another level where I saw signs for tracks in the 200s and tracks in the 300s. There was a digital train status board listing all the departures but there were no track numbers listed. Then as I walked down a long hallway I heard an announcement that the shuttle to Jamaica was leaving from track 301. I passed another digital sign that showed that the train to Jamaica was leaving on track 301. I walked passed a set of stairs and an escalator leading up from 301. Then I saw a sign telling me to keep walking to find the elevator to 301. I walked another few minutes and saw elevators and took it to track 301. It looked like each platform had sets of elevators. I also saw signs to public restrooms which I regretted skipping as I rushed to get to track 301.

I found the train and road it to Jamaica. It arrived on track 6. A few minutes later I heard and announcement that the next train to Jamaica was leaving from track 6. So apparently the shuttle goes back and forth using the same platform at Jamaica.

My train to Penn station left from track two. There was a digital sign indicating which cars are crowded and which cars are not crowded. Green mean not crowded, yellow means some what, orange, more, and red very crowded. I wonder how they do that? When I boarded I found the information to be accurate. This amazing to me because Chicagos CTA has issues with ghost trains and busses on it status app.

When we reached Penn Station I was able to find an up elevator to the concourse along the LIRR corridor which was familiar territory. I walked west until I saw signs for Monyhan train hall. I used ramps that led down through the station concourse for the 8th avenue subway and back up to the new station.

IMHO finding the new station at Grand Central was not intuitive. Based on the maps that I looked at it was designed to accommodate people coming in off of 6th Avenue and other areas west of Grand Central. If you are using this station for the first time do your online research ahead of time and allow extra time if you are not from NYC.