East River Tunnel progress repairing Superstorm Sandy damage brings LIRR president to Amtrak after reconciliation on work schedule

Amtrak officials marked six months of construction on the East River Tunnel it shares with the Long Island Rail Road Wednesday by showing off the structure's rehabilitation, more than a decade after it was damaged during Superstorm Sandy.

The work comes after Amtrak and the LIRR argued about when to close the tunnel, forcing some rush hour trains to be diverted from Penn Station to Grand Central Madison.

LIRR President Rob Free and MTA officials toured the tunnel with Newsday, noting afterward that the two agencies are working together after overcoming differences on the timing of the work.

"It's on schedule. We want to get the track back so we can continue to provide excellent, reliable service. If Amtrak wins, we all win. It serves the greater good of the region," Free said. "There are four tunnels, we're down to three tunnels. So we pressed to make sure there are certain things we wanted to see. There have been bumps, but I think we've done a good job at mitigating them."

Amtrak officials said the 116-year-old tunnel — used by Amtrak and the LIRR for passenger service while New Jersey Transit uses it to store trains in Queens — was one of two tunnels damaged 13 years ago during Superstorm Sandy.

The tunnel under construction was built in 1909, is 60 feet below 32nd street and at its lowest point, 150 feet under the East River. It's known as Line 2 that runs 2 1/2 miles under the East River, and is on schedule to be completed by July 2026.

Work on Line 1, which serves Amtrak, is scheduled to begin in October 2026, as part of a $1.6 billion rehabilitation project. The LIRR uses the other two tunnels that were not damaged during Sandy.

Officials said it will allow 150 trains to travel through Line 2 daily with better drainage improvements, lighting, cellular and Wi-Fi service and the ability to evacuate trains in an emergency.

"We're not going to jinx it and say it's victory. It's all easy from here. We still have a long ways to go, but we want to share with you the progress on this critical project," Amtrak Vice President of Capital delivery Laura Mason said in a media briefing before the tour at Penn Station.

Crews completed demolition of the tunnel, which previously flooded with water after Sandy. Trains continued to operate in the tunnel until repairs began. Crews had to navigate leaking tunnels and the risk of falling debris.

"It really was a heavy burden on our maintenance teams. So the trains were operating ... and our infrastructure maintenance teams were going out there with much more frequent responses to for leak mitigation that we had water backing up in the tunnel," Mason said. "We also had much greater risk in terms of debris falling that could foul the track. So again, greater level of inspection and response time to make sure that it was maintained safe for the train."

Much of the storm damage has been fixed with new walls lining the tunnel, a pipe carrying liquid concrete, improved ventilation and better drainage after clearing sediment from the former tracks.

Amtrak officials said water coming in can exit faster, but the rehabilitation does not protect against the threat of a storm like Sandy. Amtrak and the MTA are working on separate projects to prevent water from entering the tunnel, Mason said. Work has not been affected by any of this summer's heavy rain storms, she said.

The tunnel work is being done on the opposite side of the first tunnel and Penn Station. Amtrak officials said the project is being done with 350 workers seven days per week, through holidays to complete the rehabilitation on time.

Amtrak officials said a previous proposal from the MTA to do work on nights and weeks was not practical. Amtrak argued that it would not be possible to maintain service in the tunnel during construction. 

"There is no way to do this level of demolition or replacement to bring in an entirely new drainage system, new power systems, new communication systems, if you were trying to maintain it, there is literally no track right now," Mason said.  "Having to do work on nights and weekends means you always need to spend a lot of time on temporary mitigations to put it back in service for Monday morning."

Free said there have been some "hiccups" that briefly caused service to shutdown into Penn Station, but any problems have not been repeated. He said the MTA and Amtrak have a good relationship and "every family has its squabbles."

"We should expect it to be returned on time," Free said. "We want to get work over and done with to provide full service for both systems."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.