Grand Central Madison – one of the largest, most complex underground passenger rail megaprojects in recent U.S. history – won the 2025 American Society of Civil Engineering’s Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (ASCE OCEA) award.
Recognizing the top projects and civil engineering feats, ASCE OCEA selected Grand Central Madison as one of 14 finalists for an honor award. Opened in January 2023, Grand Central Madison expands the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) capacity into Manhattan’s East Side for the first time, increasing train capacity by 50%, improving commute times for 160,000 riders by as much as 40 minutes each day, easing congestion at Penn Station and enhancing efficiency along the Northeast Corridor.
STV and its joint venture partners provided tunnel engineering, environmental engineering and final design services for the terminal and 350,000-square-foot concourse carved 140 feet below Madison Avenue. Formerly East Side Access, Grand Central Madison can accommodate 24 trains per hour and is contributing to LIRR’s 40% increase in service.
The project will be celebrated in October 2025 at an awards gala where Grand Central Madison is eligible to win ASCE’s OPAL award – the highest honor in the organization.
Grand Central Madison also earned the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) 2024 Prix Versailles Interior Award for the World’s Most Beautiful Passenger Station, the 2024 Empire Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York and the 2024 Outstanding Project of the Year from the New York State Society of Professional Engineers.
