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NEW YORK, NY February 28, 2006 —The MTA is defending its plans to build a new transit hub fifteen stories below Midtown. The East Side Access project would connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.

REPORTER: The president of the MTA's Capital Construction division says the agency is moving full steam ahead. In a presentation to committee members, he said an alternative plan using tracks closer to street level would not save over a billion dollars - as critics suggest, and would add time for commuters.

But George Haikalis, of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, says the MTA didn't invite the Toronto-based firm that designed the alternative to present its case.

HAIKALIS: It was like a judge and jury, a kangaroo court. These are the same people that are advocating their plan, why would they have done a disinterested view of alternate plans?

REPORTER: East Side Access has already been reviewed by the federal government, and stands to receive over $300 million this year. The long-planned link could open in 2012. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.