Original Article on The New York Times

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority let it be known the other day that its plan to have the Long Island Rail Road run into Grand Central Terminal was way over budget and behind schedule. Clyde Haberman offers his take on the news.Cue the Casablanca tape, straight to where Captain Renault says oh, you know what he says. Six years ago, officials figured that this project, called East Side Access, would cost $6.3 billion and be finished by the end of 2013. Now theyve set a price tag of $8.2 billion and a completion date of August 2019. Thats a long way off, but if youre already thinking about a 2019 Hamptons vacation, you may want to book alternative means of transportation, just in case. Lets look back as well as ahead. In the dim rece...(read more)