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, scheduled to begin on May 9, 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 is about, above all else, protecting service for hundreds of thousands of LIRR riders whose transportation is being put at risk by Amtrak’s failure to plan for their tunnel megaproject,” he said. “The MTA recommended an approach that would have made it possible to keep tunnels open during construction and that was rejected by Amtrak. We then offered suggestions for how to ensure reliable service during the work – and have been given no reason to believe Amtrak’s taken that obligation seriously. That’s why the MTA Board voted to ask Amtrak to consider proceeding with a plan that won’t risk a catastrophic interruption of service to Long Islanders.”
Some of the MTA’s 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.
Roger Harris, president of Amtrak, said the rail system received the MTA’s green light to conduct the ERT work several months ago.
“In addition, MTA has approved the construction plans, designs, and supported the application for funding for this project, which has already been obligated by US Department of Transportation,” he said. “The contractor is ready to start, as they were given Notice to Proceed a year ago and is already committed to a work schedule.
Harris added that all three agencies that use the tunnel, Amtrak, MTA and NJ Transit, evaluated various plans to conduct the work before narrowing it down to the current concept.
“However, the plan we are implementing proved to be the safest, most efficient, reliable, and timely to complete the full rehabilitation of East River Tunnel, making it the best use of taxpayer investments,” he said.
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.
