NEW YORK — While Amtrak’s summer infrastructure work at New York’s Penn Station is complete, additional work will continue over the next nine months.
Amtrak Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Scot Naparstek said during a Wednesday conference call that work on switches and main tracks will continue through May 2020. That work will take place during 55-hour windows on the weekends and during weekday nights when few train movements occur at the station.
Naparstek said the ongoing work should not cause delays for Penn Station passengers, unless other operating issues occur. “Then,” he said, “our flexibility may be limited.”
Much of the infrastructure program devoted to track around A and JO interlocking during the last three summers [see “Summer work done at New York’s Penn Station; Amtrak, commuter service to be restored,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 31, 2019]. Naparstek said tracks from the ends of the station platforms to the Hudson and East River tunnel entrances will need repair soon.
Naparstek said ongoing weekly full station track Inspections will determine a new five-year plan for upcoming work to be fully discussed with station partners NJ Transit and the Long Island Rail Road. Joint talks will determine which tracks and switches need attention first, as well as planning for trackwork in the East River Tunnel, which will affect all three operators.
The Amtrak executive said it was too early to discuss a summer 2020 infrastructure plan for the station, with Amtrak engineering staff and the thee railroads working to define that project.
