Amtrak has coordinated with – and obtained approval from – MTA and NJ TRANSIT for East River Tunnel (ERT) rehab service plan several months ago, which balances impact to our commuter partners, as well as Amtrak and NYSDOT service to Albany. In addition, MTA has approved the construction plans, designs, and supported the application for funding for this project – which has already been obligated by USDOT. The contractor is ready to start, as they were given Notice to Proceed a year ago and is already committed to a work schedule.
Over the past several years, in coordination with MTA and NJ TRANSIT, Amtrak evaluated several construction plans utilizing international best practices and has been open to alternative approaches, including the “repair in place” approach, to achieve the full scope of work to ensure reliability and safety in the ERT. This joint evaluation produced some improvements to our original plan and was incorporated into our design. However, the plan we are implementing proved to be the safest, most efficient, reliable, and timely to complete the full rehabilitation of East River Tunnel, making it the best use of taxpayer investments.
Major construction work will still begin on May 9, after MTA delayed the work for more than seven months due to their lateness in completing work for their Eastbound Re-Route project. We have been actively working with MTA to mitigate the impact of this delay on the ERT project, including finding ways to shorten the overall outage. We appreciate Governor Hochul’s commitment to Empire Service, and have been happy to continue the extra capacity that we agreed with her in December well beyond the March 2nd date that we committed to. We are also eager to partner with the MTA on her suggestion of using their commuter trains to provide more options and solutions for our customers.
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