Penn's So-Called 'Summer of Hell' Has Ended, Successfully and On-Time

It turned out the so-called "Summer of Hell" at Penn Station was more like the "Summer of Successful Track Repairs."

Amtrak's eight weeks of intensive repairs are complete ahead of Monday's deadline, and service at Penn will return to normal after Labor Day.

"The renewed infrastructure will provide a more reliable train operation and service, into and out of Penn Station," Amtrak COO Scot Naparstek said Thursday.

Over the summer, Amtrak replaced all of track 10, as well as the most complicated part of the tracks: a section known as the A-interlocking, which routes trains in three different directions.

The work required Amtrak to install 1,800 feet of rail — enough to stretch six football fields — as well as pour 176 yards of concrete. It also forced commuters to make lengthy detours to get to and from work because three tracks were closed down at any one time. Gov. Andrew Cuomo predicted it would be the "Summer of Hell," but many riders adapted just fine. (Cuomo took credit for making everybody's commute more pleasant.)

Naparstek said going forward Amtrak will be more proactive about fixing track problems before they cause major incidents, like derailments.

"If we see work that needs to be done and it puts the reliability of the station at risk, then we will come forward and work with our partners on how do we do that work successfully," he said Thursday.

Amtrak will continue this fall with evening track repairs and weekend-long outages to get other track repairs done. And it will begin upgrading the public bathrooms and ticketing and waiting rooms.