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The 1913 Beaux Arts train station is the city’s most spectacular point of arrival. The world’s largest train station continues to impress 100 years later, with more than 750,000 visitors every day—that’s four times the traffic New York’s JFK Airport handles. It has 67 train tracks on two different levels. In spite of it being completely cavernous, Grand Central manages to evoke a certain sense of warmth rarely found in buildings its size.
Main Concourse
Tour stop audio transcript
The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. The space is cavernous at 275 ft long, 120 ft wide and 125 ft high – and usually filled with bustling crowds.
The main information booth is in the center of the concourse and the four-faced clock on top of the information booth is perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central. The clock, designed by Henry Edward Bedford and cast in Waterbury Connecticut, is made from brass.
One notable oddity: The constellations on the Main Concourse ceiling are drawn in reverse, as if seen from heaven.
Vanderbilt Hall
Tour stop audio transcript
Vanderbilt Hall, named for the family that built and owned the station, serves as the entrance area from 42nd Street at Pershing Square. It sits next to the Main Concourse. Formerly the main waiting room for the terminal, it is now used for the annual Christmas Market and special exhibitions, and is rented for private events.
Dining Concourse
Tour stop audio transcript
The Dining Concourse, below the Main Concourse and connected to it by numerous stairs, ramps, and escalators, provides access to the lower-level tracks. It has central seating and lounge areas, surrounded by restaurants including the Oyster Bar with its Guastavino tile vaults.
Grand Central Market
Tour stop audio transcript
Located on the eastern side of the terminal along Lexington Avenue, Grand Central Market is a big indoor market with a large number of vendors selling an array of specialty and gourmet food items like high quality fresh fruits and veggies, unique cuts of meat, wild caught seafood, farm fresh cheese, etc. A number of vendors have fresh, already-prepared foods representing a variety of cuisines including Asian, Italian, French, etc.--good for taking home for a nice meal when you're on the go.
Biltmore Room
Tour stop audio transcript
The Biltmore Room, also known as "The Kissing Room," is a sequestered spot in Grand Central Terminal, where, decades ago, people would meet up with loved ones, and passengers could travel up to the luxurious Biltmore Hotel. The nickname was coined in light of its reputation as the location where significant others, family members and friends would wait in anticipation of arriving military troops. Since the closing of the Biltmore Hotel and reduction of certain train lines, the Biltmore Room's no longer a meeting spot, and it now houses shoeshine kiosks, a newsstand and a flower stall. That said: There are plans in motion place to renovate the area, and restore the space to its classic Kissing Room aesthetic (and romantic glory).
MTA Transit Museum Annex
Tour stop audio transcript
The New York Transit Museum operates a gallery annex in Grand Central Terminal that presents changing exhibitions as well as a transit-oriented gift shop. The gallery annex is located just off the Main Concourse in the Shuttle Passage, next to the Station Master's office.
The Annex is the site of the Transit Museum's annual "Holiday Train Show," where an operating model train layout is displayed for the public.
Train Tracks
Tour stop audio transcript
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. Often, local and off-peak trains depart from the lower level while express, super-express, and peak trains depart from the main concourse. Odd-numbered tracks are usually on the east side (right side facing north) of the platform; even-numbered tracks on the west.
