Federal railway Amtrak is ready to close down one of many 4 tubes of the East River Tunnel beginning Friday night time, kicking off a bigger overhaul that has confronted opposition from the MTA, Gov. Hochul and an unlikely consortium of native elected officers.
The only tube closure, slated to final 10 days, is step one in a two-and-a-half yr restore venture that may cut back the practice capability of the subterranean construction by 25%. The tunnel is used each day by Amtrak, Lengthy Island Rail Street and New Jersey Transit trains.
“While I continue to believe this work could be accomplished without a full shutdown, I understand the importance of moving this project forward,” Hochul mentioned in an announcement following a gathering with Amtrak and Metropolitan Transportation Authority management Thursday.
“Amtrak has agreed to provide enhanced inspections, additional shift crews and the development of an operational response plan to help mitigate potential impact on commuters throughout the duration of the project,” she added.
The East River Tunnel, owned by Amtrak and first opened in 1910, consists of 4 tubes linking Manhattan and Queens. Two of the tubes — Nos. 3 and 4 — primarily serve the LIRR, the primary consumer of the tunnel, permitting its service to Penn Station. The opposite two tubes — Nos. 1 and a couple of — are utilized by Amtrak for service on the Northeast Hall, and by NJ Transit for storage of commuter trains in Queens’ Sunnyside Yard.
Corrosion from groundwater incursion seen in Tube 2 beneath the First Ave. air flow shaft. (Evan Simko-Bednarski/New York Every day Information)
Tubes 1 and a couple of had been inundated with salt water throughout Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and Amtrak has mentioned the ensuing corrosion of wires has performed havoc with signaling and traction energy within the tubes over the previous decade. Railway officers additionally level to spalling concrete alongside the tunnel benchwall — the construction via which the tunnel’s high-voltage energy traces run — that they are saying has been brought on by the saltwater publicity.
On a current press tour of Tube 2, Amtrak officers highlighted a slew of points within the tunnel — from massive gaps the place the benchwall had crumbled to corrosion brought on by groundwater incursion unrelated to Sandy.
Solely a full shutdown of every tube, the officers mentioned, would permit work crews to rebuild the benchwalls, substitute all of the wiring and make tweaks to the trackbed to enhance drainage.
“The reliability of these tunnels is not going to get any better,” Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz advised reporters final week. “These tunnels are aged, they’ve been damaged by Superstorm Sandy, and they are in urgent need of repair.”
The East River Tunnel, Tube No. 2, one in all two tubes Amtrak says it wants to shut for repairs. (Evan Simko-Bednarski/New York Every day Information)
“The longer we delay this work, the more we risk the chance of service disruptions that are not acceptable to anybody,” he added.
After Amtrak closes Tube No. 1 to all practice site visitors Friday night time, crews will conduct 10 days of labor on this tube — shoring up third-rail infrastructure and making different tweaks — earlier than reopening it, after which shutting down Tube No. 2 subsequent.
If all goes in keeping with plan, Tube No. 2 will then be closed for 13 months, throughout which era Amtrak crews will overhaul its tracks, wiring and benchwalls, successfully constructing a brand new tunnel within the shell of the outdated.
Three months after Tube No. 2 is full, Amtrak will shut down Tube No. 1, and provides it the identical remedy.
Amtrak officers present reporters a bit of damaged benchwall, with uncovered high- and low-voltage wires beneath. (Evan Simko-Bednarski/New York Every day Information)
In the course of the two-and-a-half years when one of many 4 tubes shall be shut to coach site visitors, the present LIRR and Amtrak schedules — each of which had been barely lowered as of November in anticipation of the shutdown — ought to, in idea, be unaffected.
Because of this, MTA management has questioned the need of a full overhaul — and expressed considerations that even an hour of operations with doubtlessly solely two tubes working might carry commuter practice service to its knees.
LIRR President Rob Free mentioned final week that Amtrak ought to be asking: “What [work] is absolutely essential, and only essential, to make sure the tunnels are in good condition?”
Evan Simko-Bednarski/New York Every day Information
Corrosion from groundwater incursion seen in Tube 2 beneath the First Ave. air flow shaft. (Evan Simko-Bednarski/New York Every day Information)
Free and different MTA brass have referred to as on Amtrak to undertake an analogous method to what the MTA did — unwillingly, at first — to restore comparable corrosion injury within the L practice’s Canarsie Tunnel.
The MTA’s eleventh-hour determination in 2019 to desert the outdated electrical wiring contained in the Canarsie Tunnel’s benchwall and mount new wiring on uncovered racks alongside the tunnel’s size eliminated the necessity to demolish concrete infrastructure throughout the tunnel — averting a deliberate 15-month shutdown.
However Amtrak officers have repeatedly claimed that method received’t work on this case — saying that whereas the 600-to-800-volt DC wiring within the Canarsie Tunnel could possibly be left uncovered, the 12,000-volt AC traces that run the overhead energy for Amtrak and NJ Transit trains can’t.
Although comparable high-voltage traces have been rack-mounted in different methods around the globe — a 2020 report by unbiased consultants at London Bridge Associates mentioned such an method was possible on the East River Tunnel’s sister construction, the North River Tunnel beneath the Hudson — Amtrak officers say they’re dedicated to the extra layer of fireside security and insulation {that a} benchwall gives.
Amtrak officers present reporters a bit of damaged benchwall exposing high- and low-voltage wires beneath. (Evan Simko-Bednarski/New York Every day Information)
In an announcement issued Thursday, an Amtrak spokesman mentioned the assembly with Hochul and MTA officers had been “productive,” including they’d proceed to watch their work plan and make changes as essential to reduce the impression on commuters.
“It is important to all of us this project is a success, so that all passengers, including Long Island and upstate New York residents and travelers, continue to have strong, reliable, on-time service now and in the future,” the assertion learn.
Initially Printed: Could 22, 2025 at 4:54 PM EDT
