On The Way: Amtrak finish rehab on damaged East River Tunnel as MTA boss chides strategy

Amtrak on Monday wrapped up a 15-month rehabilitation of one of its East River train tunnels, completing the first phase of a project that’s drawn criticism from MTA officials because of its effect on Long Island Rail Road service.

Amtrak owns four tunnels beneath the river, two of which were damaged in 2012 by Hurricane Sandy. Last year, the national railroad began repair work that required shutting down one tunnel at a time, despite the MTA calling for a “repair in place” approach—or working on nights and weekends while service continued during rush hour.

The LIRR, which is the nation’s busiest commuter railroad, relies on the tunnels to run service in and out of Penn Station. NJ Transit and Amtrak also use the tubes. In total, more than 450 trains run through them every day.

The closure caused some headaches for riders. A fire in May temporarily disabled two of the remaining tunnels, leaving the LIRR, Amtrak and NJ Transit to share just one tube for train movements across the river. The month before that, an LIRR train traveling through the tunnel was disabled after hitting debris, causing even more delays as workers inspected the tracks.

Amtrak plans to close the other tunnel damaged by Sandy later this fall.

MTA Chair Janno Lieber criticized Amtrak during its celebratory press conference at Penn Station, arguing the work hurt LIRR riders.

“People say, ‘You’re pretty militant about protecting your customers. You’re pretty tough on Amtrak.’ Guilty as charged,” Lieber said. “This project forced the Long Island Rail Road to reduce its peak hour service into Penn by 20%. That’s a lot of trains and it meant customers experienced a lot more crowding into Penn.”

Lieber said the MTA will continue to be an “active partner” on the project as Amtrak gears up to close and rehabilitate the second damaged tube.

Amtrak officials have said they could not rebuild its damaged tunnels without fully closing them to service.