Penn Station upgrades mean fewer LIRR trains during rush hours until March 8

Long Island Rail Road commuters again will feel the impact of Amtrak’s infrastructure upgrades at Penn Station — starting Monday, when the latest round of repairs will take some rush-hour trains out of service for two months.

The reduction at the LIRR’s Manhattan hub will require the railroad to reroute or cancel five morning rush-hour trains and six evening rush-hour trains until March 8, the LIRR said.

The work is the continuation of Amtrak’s Penn Station Infrastructure Renewal Program, which began in July 2017 after several major infrastructure failures at the station. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo famously called the eight-weeks long first phase of the project the “summer of hell” because of the widespread impact on the LIRR.

Subsequent phases of work have been less impactful on the LIRR, including the most recent summerlong project, which ended on Labor Day. The latest work will entail replacing aging components of Track 11 and Track 14 at Penn.

As a result of the project, three morning peak LIRR trains to Penn Station will be rerouted to Atlantic Terminal; one morning peak train to Penn Station will terminate in Jamaica; and one morning peak train to Penn Station will not operate.

In the evening rush, two trains will originate at Atlantic Terminal instead of Penn Station, one train will originate at Jamaica instead of Penn Station; two trains will not operate; and one evening reverse-peak train will be diverted to Atlantic Terminal.

Garden City commuter Michael Swanson is already dreading the removal of the 5:38 p.m. train from Penn Station to Hempstead from the schedule. The train will instead depart from Brooklyn at 5:46.

Swanson said the result will lead to “dangerous” conditions on other Penn Station trains departing around the same time.

“It just becomes way too crowded,” said Swanson, 46. “Why do they have to change that and make the trains overly crowded to where people are fighting to get on?”

By adding five trains to the schedule just before and just after the rush hour, and by adding cars to some trains, the LIRR said it is limiting the overall reduction in seating capacity to less than 1%.

“We’ve worked hard to provide the best possible options for the least amount of disruption while this critical work continues,” LIRR president Phillip Eng said in a statement. “We appreciate our customers’ patience during this time and look forward to sharing the benefits of the more reliable infrastructure Amtrak is putting into place.”

Richard Anderson, chief executive of Amtrak, which owns Penn Station, in a statement thanked LIRR commuters “for their patience and continued cooperation with our efforts to keep this important infrastructure in a state of good repair.”

“Modernizing and investing in infrastructure is a continuous process, and Amtrak is committed to making investments toward updating infrastructure when needed,” Anderson said. 

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.