NYC’s New Grand Central LIRR Stop Lets Long Islanders Skip Penn Station

It was probably the happiest commuter crowd New York has ever seen. Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, riders on the first Long Island Rail Road trip to Grand Central station took selfies, greeted each other and cheered train conductors.

The celebration was a long time coming: Plans for a service that would cut 40 minutes from the trudge Long Islanders have to make to reach east Manhattan began more than two decades ago — when a different generation of New Yorkers blissfully unaware of the word ‘selfie’ were making the despairing commute.