NEW YORK — Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Janno Lieber has blasted Amtrak for a lack of cooperation on the Penn Access infrastructure project, saying the situation is “outrageous, and it’s been a problem from the start of that project.”
Lieber was speaking at a press conference today (Monday, Oct. 6, 2025) on the completion of the first phase of rebuilding of the Park Avenue Viaduct [see “ ]. He was asked about possible delays to the Second Avenue Subway project because of the withholding of federal funds by a reporter who linked that problem to delays on Penn Access, which seeks to bring Metro-North service to Penn Station and four new stops in the Bronx along Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line.
“That’s a different issue,” Lieber said. “Amtrak slows down on its own. They don’t need any direction from Congress. … They slow us down every day of the week by not giving outages” — track closures to allow construction work — “which were promised in contracts, [and] by not ever having the personnel, because it’s their right of way, and we need their supervisory personnel to stand there and watch us do work. Their people don’t show up. We can’t get work done. The people in Co-Op City” — one of the locations of a new station — “are waiting for a goddamn train.”
An animated Lieber said that in the first year of the project, “Amtrak didn’t give us one outage that they promised. Not one.”
The MTA has registered its concerns over Amtrak cooperation almost since the project began. In January 2023 — the month after a groundbreaking ceremony — the president of MTA Construction & Development, Jamie Torres-Springer, told an MTA board meeting that the project was already facing a seven-month delay because Amtrak was not providing the necessary access and manpower. [See “MTA runs into early delays …,” Trains.com, Jan. 31, 2023]. Amtrak subsequently agreed to adjust its schedules on the Hell Gate Line to accommodate Penn Access work [see “Amtrak to take one track on Hell Gate Line out of service …,” Trains.com, March 6, 2023].
“We’re asking Amtrak to make good on their promises and at least give us additional access and additional capacity to make up some of the time,” Lieber said Monday. “So those discussions are under way. We’ll see whether they’re successful. So far, they haven’t yielded much.”
The news site Gothamist reports Amtrak did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Trains.com has also asked Amtrak for a response.
