'Colossal failures' at Penn Station spark concern as NBA Finals, World Cup bring spotlight

A string of recent service meltdowns at Penn Station raises new questions about whether the Manhattan transit hub is up to handling massive crowds heading to the NBA Finals and World Cup, transportation advocates say.

Three major incidents in and around Penn Station in recent weeks — including two rail tunnel fires — snarled Long Island Rail Road service over several rush hours, all while the station operates at reduced capacity because of a repair project keeping one of the four East River tunnels out of service.

Officials with Amtrak, which owns and maintains Penn Station and the adjoining tunnels, have said the incidents were anomalies and not evidence of larger infrastructure issues at the station — the busiest rail terminal in the Western Hemisphere.

But transit advocates say the recent failures were made worse by Amtrak's approach to tunnel repairs and capacity restrictions at a station built to handle about 100,000 riders daily, and now moving about six times as many each day. The Knicks’ championship chase at Madison Square Garden and the World Cup soccer tournament at MetLife Stadium are only adding to that amount.

"There have been some colossal failures of tremendous magnitude in trying to get people just home," said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the  Metropolitan Transportation Authority Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, which includes the LIRR Commuter Council.

With the potential for an NBA Finals Game 6 at the Garden to coincide with a World Cup match in New Jersey on Tuesday, Daglian said she hopes those issues "have been addressed and would be buttoned up with zippers, buttons and suspenders."

On the morning of April 29, two incidents caused major headaches for Long Island commuters. First,  an NJ Transit train struck a piece of third rail infrastructure inside one of the East River tunnels during the early morning hours, blocking the structure for about an hour. After Amtrak made repairs and cleared the train, an LIRR train coming through the same tunnel hit another piece of debris, causing 900 passengers to have to evacuate and crippling the morning rush hour.

Two weeks later on May 14, Long Island commuters were again sent scrambling when a panel on a new Amtrak train came loose inside an East River tunnel and contacted the electrified third rail, sparking a fire that impacted service into and out of Penn for two days.

And another two weeks after that, on May 29, a fire inside a Hudson River rail tunnel, caused by a contractor’s maintenance train, injured five people and caused more service disruptions, including for LIRR riders.

Speaking to reporters at Penn Station on the day of that incident, MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber called the string of Amtrak-related disruptions "unacceptable."

"This is like the third time in a row in a matter of a couple of weeks that we’ve had Penn Station knocked out by problems with Amtrak," Lieber said. "Every time this happens, we’re one tunnel short and we cannot run service to Penn."

Later that day, Gerhard Williams, executive vice president and chief operations officer for Amtrak, said the incidents were "anomalies" and "completely separate."

Those, and other service disruptions at Penn Station over the last year, have occurred while the station is already hamstrung by an ongoing effort to rehabilitate two East River tunnels that suffered significant damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

MTA officials urged that the work be limited to nights and weekends to keep both tunnels open during the busiest times. But Amtrak has said keeping one tunnel out of service full-time is necessary to do the work right. The first tunnel being worked on was shut down in May 2025 and is scheduled to return to service next month — temporarily returning Penn to full strength until the second tunnel is closed in October for 13 months.

Williams said none of the recent incidents were caused by station infrastructure, and Amtrak did "a very good job in terms of keeping things moving" during the disruptions, even with one tunnel already down for repairs.

"Our infrastructure is safe and we would not operate service if there were any safety issues," Williams said.

Even if the issues were unrelated — and not indicative of a systemic problem at Penn —Tom Wright, president and CEO of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit planning group, said they highlighted the fragility of New York’s transportation system and the need to ensure that it is resilient, has sufficient capacity and plenty of redundancy.

"You cannot segregate the Long Island Rail Road from Amtrak, from New Jersey Transit, because they're all jammed into Penn Station and they're all using the same tunnels," Wright said.

Wright said the convergence of the NBA Finals, the World Cup and a long-term tunnel repair project could make for a "perfect storm" if something else goes wrong at Penn.

Offering some hope for a smoother customer experience in the future at the 115-year-old station, Amtrak earlier this week released new details of an $8 billion project, spearheaded by the Trump administration, to redevelop Penn Station.

Although the effort will not expand track capacity, project leader Andy Byford said some of the upgrades will streamline train service. The planned demolition of the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden, on top of Penn, will allow for the removal of several structural columns at track level that will give riders more breathing room on platforms.

"We’re not just going to limit ourselves to what looks nice at street level and on the concourse," Byford said. "We’re also going to totally modernize the platform area and fire, life safety issues and make sure that things like the switches ... are modernized."

 Samuel Turvey, chairman of Rethink Penn Station NYC, a group pushing for upgrades at Penn, said, even with a limited ability to expand the station’s capacity, any redevelopment effort should look to widen narrow platforms — making it easier for customers to get on and off trains, even with the kind of demand during the NBA Finals and World Cup.

"Would a world-class station fit for New York City have any question in its ability to handle these kinds of crowds? I don’t think so," Turvey 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.