New York’s comptroller is criticizing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for badly underestimating the cost of a tunneling project that will allow Long Island Rail Road trains to use Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal.
In a report released Wednesday, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the total cost of the project will likely reach $8.76 billion, including the cost of acquiring new train cars for the line.
That is twice as much as expected when planning began in the late 1990s. It’s 40 percent more than when the first hard budget projections were made in 2006.
The MTA declined to comment on the report.
It has previously cited changes in the project’s design, unforeseen construction challenges and other factors for the cost increases.
The project is expected to be complete in 2019.