Amtrak will shut down one of four tubes that make up the East River Tunnel beginning Friday night, kicking off a two-and-a-half-year reconstruction of the tunnel. The project has faced staunch criticism from the MTA for its potential to disrupt rail service.
The single tube closure, scheduled to last 10 days, is the first step in Amtrak’s long-delayed, $1.6 billion project to repair the structure from damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, when the tunnel was inundated with corrosive salt water.
After the initial 10-day closure — during which crews will shore up electrical infrastructure — Amtrak plans to reopen the structure, and then shut down a second tube for at least 13 months. Once that work is completed and the tube is reopened, three months later, Amtrak plans to shutter the first tube for 13 months to carry out the same reconstruction work on tracks, wiring and concrete walls. All told, the work will keep one tube of the East River Tunnel that connects riders to Penn Station — used daily by Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit — out of service through 2027, at the earliest.
The lengthy repairs will reduce the train capacity of the East River Tunnel by 25%. And that has MTA officials and Gov. Kathy Hochul worried that project complications could snarl commutes.
“While I continue to believe this work could be accomplished without a full shutdown, I understand the importance of moving this project forward,” Hochul said in a statement. She added that Amtrak has agreed to additional mitigation measures, including dedicating more staff to the project and beefing up inspections, to help quell her concerns for would-be disruptions.
“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,” said Hochul.
The tunnel project is designed to revitalize two of the four century-old tubes, which first opened in 1910, beneath the East River. Both tubes remained structurally sound following Sandy, but have since deteriorated and suffered system failures. Amtrak insists the outage is needed for a full reconstruction of the tubes’ power, signal, track and structural systems.
Hochul and the MTA have vocally urged Amtrak to avoid a tube outage by carrying out the work on nights and weekends, like the MTA did for repairs to the L train East River tunnel in 2019. Amtrak maintains that only a full shut down of each tube allows workers to rebuild walls so they can replace wiring and bolster the ground on which track is laid to be more resilient to flooding.
