Amtrak completes summer infrastructure renewal program at New York Penn Station on schedule, within budget

Amtrak completed its 2019 summer infrastructure renewal work at New York Penn Station within budget, with scheduled operations started on Sept. 3.

“We’re proud to announce and celebrate another successful round of renewal work at New York Penn Station, which signifies our commitment to investments in infrastructure and safety,” said Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson. “We thank our customers as well as our partners at [New Jersey] Transit and Long Island Rail Road for their patience and continued cooperation with our efforts to keep this important infrastructure in a state of good repair.”

This summer’s work focused on an estimated $30 million investment in the overall renewal of JO railroad interlocking at the east end of the station, which Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and NJ Transit trains use to travel in and out of New York Penn Station heading east and west from the East River Tunnels. The program included complete track replacement of all switches on the east end of 14, 15 and 16 tracks. All signaling systems that interface with this equipment, signal machines and cables, were also replaced. Amtrak forces were able to take advantage of the track outages to also replace all third rail and power cables, install new LED lighting at JO interlocking and under the platform, and repaint the platforms.

Following the completion of the repair work, NJ Transit is restoring adjusted rail service on Sept. 9 going to and from New York City, including all affected Montclair-Boonton Midtown Direct trains. In addition, as part of regular rail schedule changes scheduled for Sept. 8, other adjustments will be made throughout the system to enhance the customer experience, meet demand and accommodate critical infrastructure improvements.

“Now that this vital track work is complete, we are pleased to restore rail service into and out of New York City, including the resumption of service to Penn Station New York for peak hour Montclair-Boonton Midtown Direct trains,” said NJ Transit President & CEO Kevin Corbett. “The restoration of regular service will make for faster, smoother commutes for the nearly 90,000 NJ Transit customers who travel to and from Penn Station New York every day, and our thanks go out to Amtrak for completing this necessary project quickly and on-schedule and our customers for their patience and understanding.”

LIRR President Phil Eng announced 14 rush hour trains that had been canceled or rerouted will return to Penn Station effective September 3.

The LIRR has been operating 260 rush hour trains daily, limited by a reduction of track availability due to Amtrak’s work. As of September 3, the LIRR will restore 14 trains, for a rush hour total of 274 trains, a 5.4 percent increase.

“We’re very pleased that Amtrak...conclude[d] their important work over th[e] long weekend, which is right on the timetable they had provided,” Eng said. “This allow[ed] us to restore full rush hour service for our customers...as we had promised.”

Five rush hour trains that had been canceled resumed service. Six that had been rerouted to Atlantic Terminal returned to Penn Station. Three that had been operating to/from Jamaica were extended to Penn Station.

The LIRR had added five trains on the edges of both a.m. and p.m. peak periods to provide affected customers with alternative options. Due to popularity, two of those will continue to operate, the 5:12 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma, due into Penn Station at 6:05 a.m. and the 5:43 a.m. train from Freeport, due into Penn Station at 6:24 a.m.

The Infrastructure Renewal Program benefits New York state with an upgraded, state-of-the art railroad and is one element of Amtrak’s plan to modernize stations, infrastructure and equipment on the Northeast Corridor.