Amtrak’s controversial East River tunnel rehabilitation project is officially underway, and potential impacts on Long Island Rail Road service across the East River remain to be seen.
On May 23, Amtrak kicked off the project and its largest planned outage in recent history in order to repair damage sustained during Hurricane Sandy back in 2012. According to Amtrak, the three-year project is necessary to fix two damaged and aging tunnel tubes and maintain future passenger safety.
“The century-old tunnels have reached the end of their useful lives and must be completely rehabilitated for another 100 years of service,” Amtrak said in a statement.
Amtrak officials explained that the work will involve gutting the existing tunnel systems down to the concrete liners. Crews will then restructure the tunnels with “modern, state-of-the-art tunnel systems.”
The work will take place with one tunnel tube at a time under a full closure for maximum efficiency, beginning with Line 2 on June 2.
Because the state-run LIRR uses the East River Tunnel system, MTA officials have expressed concerns that the full shutdown would result in major service disruptions for trains connecting to Midtown’s Penn Station.
However, after meeting with Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA leadership on May 22, Amtrak said it would work to minimize passengers’ impacts throughout the project.
“Amtrak has agreed to provide enhanced inspections, additional shift crews and the development of an operational response plan to help mitigate potential impact on commuters throughout the duration of the project,” Hochul said after the meeting. “While I continue to believe this work could be accomplished without a full shutdown, I understand the importance of moving this project forward.”
Amtrak is also leading the Penn Station redesign after the Trump administration took control of the project from the MTA last month — a move that Hochul and the MTA applauded because it would save the state billions of dollars.
On May 27, US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that former NYC Transit head Andy Byford was appointed special advisor to Amtrak’s board of directors and will help oversee the Penn Station project.
