• Eerie underworld beneath Manhattan

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    A contractor works on the East Side Access project beneath midtown Manhattan in New York.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Contractors work on the East Side Access project beneath midtown Manhattan, in New York. The East Side Access is one of three bold projects under New York that will expand what's already the nation's biggest mass-transit system by 2019.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Contractors work on the East Side Access project beneath midtown Manhattan in New York.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    In this Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 photo, contractors work on the East Side Access project beneath midtown Manhattan, in New York. The East Side Access is one of three bold projects under New York that will expand what's already the nation's biggest mass-transit system by 2019.

     By Verena Dobnik, AP

    Published at 3:07pm ET: NEW YORK - Sixteen stories below Grand Central Terminal, an army of workers is blasting through bedrock to create a new commuter rail concourse with more floor space than New Orleans' Superdome, just one of three audacious projects going on beneath New York City's streets to expand what's already the nation's biggest mass transit system.

    But even with blasting and machinery grinding through the rock day and night, most New Yorkers are blithely unaware of the construction or the eerie underworld that includes a massive, eight-story cavern, miles of tunnels and watery, gravel-filled pits.

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  • Boom!! Giant boring machine breaks through subway wall under New York City

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Officials cover their mouths from a dust cloud created by a tunnel boring machine cutting through a solid rock wall, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 in New York.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    A construction worker, also known as a sandhog, climbs down from a hole created by a tunnel boring machine on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 in New York.

    By Natalia Jimenez, NBC News

    Today marked an important milestone for the creation of the Second Avenue subway line in New York City. A tunnel boring machine reached the Lexington-63rd Street station, breaking into the existing tunnel that will connect it to the Q line. This marks the end of the first phase of the project.

    It is nice seeing the Second Avenue line make headway. As many other New Yorkers can attest, this project felt like a myth for a long time, but it seems that shorter commutes for those along York and East End Avenues are on the way.

    More on the new line on NY1.com

  • Jonathan D. Woods/msnbc.com

    Commuters pack tightly onto the 6 train at 59th street in New York on Wednesday, June 30, 2010. A stalled train on the express line between the Brooklyn Bridge and 14th St. caused delays and overcrowding during peak usage times Wednesday evening.

    Passengers packed like sardines into crowded New York City subway

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    For as patient as I typically am with mass transit and the inherent delays that come with it, waiting over an hour for a train tonight was mildly frustrating. Thousands of customers were affected by the delay.