Amtrak will delay the start of the construction on the East River Tunnel Rehabilitation project by two weeks after learning the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) East-Bound reroute project is delayed.
The three-year project calls for repairing two of the tunnel’s four tubes, which were damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, with one tube removed from service at a time. The tunnel connects New York City to destinations east, and is used by Amtrak, LIRR and NJ Transit trains. Amtrak now plans to close the first tube on May 23 instead of May 9, according to a letter Amtrak President Roger Harris sent to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul yesterday.
Hochul, along with other elected officials and Metropolitan Transportation Authority leaders, have expressed concerns over the impact to commuters during the tube’s closure, saying it could significantly impact LIRR’s operations. In addition, Amtrak has made service cuts on routes that would serve as alternatives for commuters during the East River Tunnel project. MTA officials and Hochul are calling on Amtrak to revise project plans and consider a “repair in place” approach to minimize impact on commuters.
But Harris insists the current plan is the best approach, and reiterated in his most recent letter that a total singular tube shutdown is the “most responsible” method to repair the tunnel. Other solutions would be expensive and a short-term band-aid, he said. Rather, the intercity passenger railroad would like to work with Hochul, LIRR and Metro-North to review service plans to identify additional solutions to maintain service reliability, such as leveraging commuter rolling stock and/or service to Grand Central Terminal.
“We’re focused on identifying any potential blind spots that may have been overlooked by our combined operations teams while developing the service plan over the past 10 months,” Harris said in the letter. “We would like to work with you to take advantage of the time created by the delay to refocus on collaborative mitigation solutions.”
