NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority would have to reduce Long Island Rail Road service into New York’s Penn Station to accommodate its proposal for temporary Metro-North service on its Penn Access route through the Bronx, according to Amtrak — which MTA CEO Janno Lieber says is not an option.
In a paywalled article, Long Island newspaper Newsday reports Laura Mason, Amtrak executive vice president, capital delivery, said in a Nov. 12 letter that “any new Metro-North service must also be accompanied by a reduction in Long Island Rail Road service levels.” This reflects ongoing work in Amtrak’s East River tunnels to repair Hurricane Sandy damage, which led Amtrak to reduce its own operations for the duration of the tunnel project [see “Amtrak schedule revisions …,” Trains.com, April 27, 2025].
Amtrak’s schedule changes have undergone some revision, most recently with the announcement that an additional round trip between New York City and Albany would be restored [see “Amtrak, Metro-North to provide more …,” Trains.com, Oct. 20, 2025]. Once the tunnel project is finished — in 2027 at the earliest — Penn Station should be able to accommodate both Metro-North and Long Island service.
Newsday reports that Lieber told reporters after an MTA board meeting that making the Metro-North service contingent on reduced LIRR operations is “a non-starter,” saying the existing infrastructure should be able to accommodate three additional Metro-North trains per hour.
The temporary service proposal stems from construction delays for the Penn Access project, which seeks to add additional tracks and four new Metro-North stations on Amtrak’s double-track Hell Gate Line between New Rochelle, N.Y., and Harold Interlocking in Queens. The MTA has said Amtrak has failed to live up to its obligations to accommodate MTA construction, pushing the completion from 2027 to at least 2030 [see “MTA says Penn Access project …,” Trains.com, Oct. 27, 2025]. In the interim, Metro-North has proposed limited, temporary service — 31 daily trains, instead of the 105 eventually planned — at three stations, Parkchester, Morris Park, and Co-op City, using the existing Amtrak double-track route. The fourth station, Hunts Point, would not be included in the temporary plan because its site cannot accommodate a temporary platform while allowing construction to continue, the MTA says.
But the construction industry publication Engineering News-Record reports that Mason’s Nov. 12 letter rejected the MTA’s version of events, saying the national passenger operator has “more than met” its obligations since some early difficulties. It demanded that Lieber retract statements “that we are in breach of contract.” Mason told the Engineering News-Record that the MTA did not publicly address contractor and design issues and safety incidents, among other problems.
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