The MTA fired back at Amtrak on Thursday after the federal rail network held a media tour of an East River tunnel to explain why it believes a full shutdown of a rail tube is necessary during a years-long repair job.
During a May 15 press conference at Penn Station, Rob Free, president of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), questioned the scope of the work and how much of it is necessary to the point of closing down two major tunnel lines.
“I want to make sure that our operation maintains the high levels of reliability that we already have,” he said.
The MTA, a NYS-run agency, has been pushing back against Amtrak for arranging the shutdown of two tubes in the tunnel, claiming it would result in “catastrophic” service disruptions for the LIRR, which relies on the East River tunnels to get to Penn Station.
The construction work is needed, Amtrak officials said, to repair infrastructure damaged from Hurricane Sandy.
Free acknowledged that repair work needs to be done, but also criticized Amtrak for not providing details of the planned work or providing plans for minimizing any potential LIRR delays.
“It’s Amtrak’s decision to make,” he said. “ It’s their responsibility, but with that responsibility comes ensuring that they properly manage this project and ensure LIRR operations are not negatively impacted. “
The closures are scheduled to begin on May 23. Once the work starts, it will involve a full back-to-back shutdown of two of the four East River tubes, which will remain in place for about 13 months each. The MTA has said this will result in service disruptions for its 125,000 daily LIRR riders.
There are four East River rail tubes at play. One of them, Line 2, will be taken completely out of service. The other track, Line 1, will be used solely by Amtrak and NJ Transit.
Two of the four tubes crossing the East River into Penn Station will be impacted, meaning that LIRR and Amtrak will need to share the two remaining active tunnels most of the time.
The MTA’s primary concern is that too much is at stake if one of the tracks in the tunnel goes out of service. It would likely create a shutdown that would make it impossible for LIRR to operate trains into and out of Penn Station with only one line, officials have said.
Meanwhile, in a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul this month, Amtrak President Roger Harris maintained that a full shutdown is the most “responsible” and cost-effective way to handle the construction job.
“Any other solution would be an expensive, short-term band-aid and a disservice to passengers and taxpayers,” he wrote. “Rather, we’re focused on identifying any potential blind spots that may have been overlooked by our combined operations teams while developing the service plan over the past 10 months.”
In the letter, Harris also said that he is open to discussing ways to protect LIRR service reliability, such as leveraging commuter rolling stock or providing service to Grand Central Station.
