New York Essay: Grand Central Station

The Grand Central Terminal (GCT, often referred to as Grand Central Station or simply Grand Central) is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Built and named by the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of long distance trains in the U.S., and is the largest railway station in the world in number of platforms. Creation of this station is a strange idea in general (Belle, 57). Except in New York, the station is one of the great sights of the city, not to take the train, but only for good and take a look.

Grand Central is the biggest station in New York. In fact, it is the largest in the world, certainly in many docks: 44 docks serving 67 routes. The total area occupied by the station and its platforms is nearly 20 hectares. Each weekday, it is 300 trains departing from Grand Central, or 1 every 4 minutes. He travels about 500 000 people per day (this is both a transit point for passengers on the train and subway but also to cross the block of buildings). Last record: this is the sixth spot with world 21 million visitors per year (source: survey Travel + Leisure 2011). More than 2,000 coats were left abandoned in Grand Central a year, there are countless iPods and iPhones, and 98% of trains arrive on time (Belle, 57).

Much of the station is not visible from the outside. The docks are all underground, and that much of the rooms and corridors. The station is located at the intersection of 42nd Street and Park Avenue, Midtown Manhattan. The station is connected to the underground network. Everyone, starting with New York, the station called "Grand Central Station", but its official name isGrand Central Terminal, GCT abbreviated, acronym found everywhere on signs. Grand Central is a station for commuters (Belle, 57). 

The exterior of the building is of the "Fine Arts". We do not see much from the outside because the building is slightly recessed in the center of a broad array of skyscrapers. Originally, the first station was built in 1871 to accommodate the terminus of three lines of railway which arrived in Manhattan (USA lines of railroad are private, and several companies are competing). She then called Grand Central Depot. The first station had the distinction of having raised platforms that allowed trains to enter the level, detail that was a popular innovation at the time (Belle, 57).

Between 1899 and 1913, the station was rebuilt many times, and almost completely destroyed to be rebuilt as we see today. The facade has a large clock with a group of sculptures representing around Mercury (center), Hercules and Minerva (left and right). These sculptures are the work of French sculptor Jules-Alexis Coutan (pupil of Jules Cavelier, Prix de Rome in 1872, member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1900). Anecdotally, this group of sculpture was in 1914 when it opened, known as the greatest of the modern world with a height of over 15m high. The clock has a diameter of over 4 meters!

But the part of the station that tourists prefer is ...