New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo preordained summer 2017 the "summer
of hell" for travelers out of New York Penn Station, as Amtrak began a
massive repair project that disrupted schedules out of the busiest rail station
in the U.S. In the end, it turned out to be more of a summer of heck.
Following a series of derailments and stalled trains along
the tracks shared by Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Railroad,
Amtrak and its president and CEO, Wick Moorman, decided in April to accelerate
track work that had been scheduled to take several years.
The work focused largely on repairing the interlocking
system that routes trains into and out of the station. In all, Amtrak installed
897 track ties, 1,100 feet of rails, 1,000 tons of ballast, seven switches,
four diamond crossings and 176 yards of concrete.
While the work required significant service disruptions over
the summer months, Amtrak largely left key business travel routes alone; it
made no changes to schedules for the Acela Express lines or the Northeast
Regional service between New York and Boston. Some service between New York and
Washington was canceled, however, and routes on the Keystone service to
Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa., were routed to avoid Penn Station. Amtrak
mitigated the disruption by lengthening trains to increase capacity, according
to Moorman.
Despite fears, the work finished on time and without any
significant problems. Near the end of the work period, Cuomo conceded that his
forecast "summer of hell" did not materialize. Amtrak later reported
record ridership, including on the Northeast Corridor line, for the 2017 fiscal
year, which ended Sept. 30.
The emergency repair work was far from the end of the scope
of work needed at Penn Station, though the project will continue without
Moorman at the helm. He joined Amtrak in September 2016 as a transitional CEO,
and Amtrak's board has appointed former Delta CEO Richard Anderson to succeed
Moorman at the turn of the year. Since July, Anderson has been working
alongside Moorman, who will continue to advise Amtrak next year.