Get ready, Long Island Rail Road customers, because train delays may be coming your way.
The MTA said on Wednesday that a major construction project from Amtrak could disrupt LIRR service for hundreds of thousands of riders daily as soon as next month.
Two of the four rail tunnels 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. MTA officials explained during a monthly board meeting on April 30 that the change is needed to accommodate a major repair job to fix badly damaged tunnel tubes caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
The work includes installing new tracks, cabling and signaling.
MTA officials said Amtrak—a federal entity that owns the infrastructure—is insistent on doing the nearly three-year repair work with a full shutdown of one tube at a time for 13 months each. The MTA, however, said Amtrak could avoid LIRR disruptions if they do the repair work during off-peak hours.
LIRR President Rob Free said the MTA, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Long Island elected officials have been in touch with Amtrak about the situation.
“This issue is of critical importance to not only Long Island Rail Road riders, but all users of Penn Station as well,” he said. “MTA and LIRR have been engaged in monitoring this project for years, sharing our concerns with Amtrak both in written correspondence and in person meetings. As the project nears, we are becoming increasingly concerned that this outage could have significant impacts on LIRR customers.”
Some of those concerns include delays, cancellations and shutdowns that would impact the 461 trains that ride across the East River daily, carrying 125,000 commuters.
Free explained that even a minor incident could be significant because the overhaul would increase in train traffic, with the locomotives running very close together.
In a letter sent on April 28, Hochul urged Amtrak to find other ways to complete the much-needed repair work.
“…Amtrak must re-examine whether a total shutdown of the ERT [East River tunnel] is required to rehabilitate the tubes, or whether a ‘repair-in-place’ approach based on night and weekend work would be feasible,” the letter stated.
amNewYork contacted Amtrak for comment about the rehabilitation project and is awaiting a response.
Meanwhile, transit groups have also expressed concerns about the possible outages.
“We concur with the MTA in that Amtrak’s plan to fully shut down one of its East River Tunnel tubes will have immense consequences for LIRR riders,” a statement from Passengers United read. “LIRR President Rob Free explained that this shutdown would make operations out of Penn Station more vulnerable, as any error would result in exacerbated delays and/or cancellations.”
The statement also urges the LIRR to consider whether diverting of some train service to Atlantic Terminal “would alleviate” inconveniences connected to the work-related disruptions.
