[WATCH] The Vanderbilts Built Something Under New York in 1899 — And Why Nobody Can Visit

This video explores the hidden underground network beneath Grand Central Terminal in New York City, a massive project initiated by the Vanderbilt family in 1899. Initially conceived as a way to electrify rail lines and bury the train yards, the project expanded into a sprawling subterranean 'Terminal City.' This invisible infrastructure includes hidden power stations like M42, which was so secret during WWII that guards had shoot-on-site orders, and private platforms like Track 61, notably used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to discreetly enter and exit the city via the Waldorf Astoria without public visibility. The video reveals how this intricate web of tunnels, passages, and sub-basements connected numerous surrounding buildings, allowing the city's powerful elite to move unseen, and questions why much of this historical network remains undocumented and inaccessible to the public over a century after its construction.