Amtrak needs to get back on track

This hasn’t been an easy time to be a Long Island Rail Road rider.

Last month’s strike garnered the most attention and publicity. But there has been a string of separate incidents, each causing cascading delays and cancellations into Penn Station, each disrupting LIRR travel for hours, even days, at a time.

And the three most recent problematic examples all had one common element: Amtrak.

The national passenger rail system owns and controls Penn Station and the East River Tunnels that lead to it. So, Amtrak’s successes and failures directly impact the LIRR’s ability to get commuters to and from Penn.

That became glaringly apparent this spring. In late April, an LIRR train struck debris that had fallen in Amtrak’s only operating East River Tunnel. Last month, a panel on a new NextGen Acela train came loose and touched the electrified third rail outside the East River Tunnel, sparking a fire. Amtrak’s executive vice president of capital delivery, Laura Mason, said last month the new trains “have some teething challenges.”

That’s putting it mildly.

Late last month, another fire started on an Amtrak mechanical vehicle in the tunnels under the Hudson River. Five people were injured and service was shuttered during the early morning hours.

The extensive LIRR ripple effect was significant. The only saving grace was the existence of Grand Central Madison, which provided the redundancy and backup Long Islanders had craved for years. It’s a reminder of just how important the oft-maligned East Side Access effort was.

But Long Islanders deserve two functioning train terminals in Manhattan, and tunnels that can get them from point A to point B. That depends on Amtrak.

Understanding what has gone wrong at the station, in the tunnels and with the new train fleet is critical. But at the moment, Amtrak lacks stable institutional leadership and has provided an insufficient public response.

A top Amtrak official said the incidents are “very unacceptable,” but emphasized they were “anomalies.” A more serious approach and greater accountability is required. When the editorial board last year supported Amtrak’s decision to close each East River Tunnel to rehab it, rather than doing the work on nights and weekends, we noted that Amtrak officials promised they could handle it and would have backup plans when something went awry. Their tunnel rehab strategy was appropriate, but so far, they haven’t proved themselves. They must do better.

That’s especially important as many at Amtrak and its overseers seem focused on the cosmetic redesign of Penn. The priority for leadership should be making the trains run before tackling Penn’s aesthetics.

The rail system has extensive oversight, with roles for the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Railroad Administration and Congress. Amtrak officials say they have regular private conversations with those overseers. That’s not good enough. Public hearings, after-incident analyses and full accountability are necessary. It’s the only way to get Amtrak back on track.