west side of Queens Boulevard and Skillman Avenue along the Northeast Corridor (which the LIRR uses to get into Pennsylvania Station) will be built, which will provide one-stop access for area residents to Midtown Manhattan. The station will have two side platforms and one island platform, all of which will be able to accommodate 12-car trains. In its 2015–2019 capital program, the MTA budgeted $76.5 million for the construction of the station. Construction was scheduled to start in January 2021 and finish in December 2022, but it was delayed until after the completion of East Side Access. Capacity increase The East Side Access project, along with several readiness-improvement projects, will allow the LIRR to run 24 more twelve-car trains during rush hours. This will boost its rush-hour passenger capacity from 300,000 to 425,000 daily commuters, a 45% increase. Main Line third track Related to the MTA's East Side Access project is its long-planned widening of the two-track LIRR Main Line by adding a third track. Completion of Main Line third track construction was assumed during East Side Access project planning and referenced in the original East Side Access environmental impact statement as necessary to support service level increases caused by adding service to and from Grand Central. The MTA has said that it considers the Main Line third track an "essential" project to support East Side Access, and that the Main Line third track will "complement the East Side Access megaproject, which is doubling the LIRR's capacity into Manhattan." The third track's construction was deferred indefinitely by the MTA in 2008 due to budget constraints. In January 2016, Governor Cuomo and the MTA announced plans to restart construction of the Main Line third track. In December 2017, the LIRR awarded a contract for the project to the consortium 3rd Track Constructors for $1.8 billion. A groundbreaking ceremony for the third track project was held on September 5, 2018. The third track opened in several phases and was completed by October 2022. Readiness projects Five "readiness projects" are also under construction across the LIRR system to handle the expanded peak-hour service planned when East Side Access opens. Together, they are expected to cost $495 million. The largest of these projects is at Jamaica station, where the MTA is re-configuring track layouts, installing high-speed switches, and adding a new Platform F for the Atlantic Branch. The changes will allow the Atlantic Branch