49 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

CNBC 5/24/17:
 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Trump hasn't answered our SOS for 'crumbling' Penn Station

• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tells CNBC President Donald Trump has not responded to his request for emergency help with Penn Station.
• He sent a letter to Trump on Sunday asking for funding for the station, which serves 600,000 people a day.
• "It is literally crumbling," he says.

 

New York's Penn Station is "crumbling by the day," and President Donald Trump has not responded to requests for aid, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNBC on Wednesday.

 

Cuomo's comment came three days after he sent a letter to the president requesting emergency funds for Pennsylvania Station, a main hub for commuters and Amtrak trains along the Northeast Corridor. The station serves an estimated 600, 000 commuters and travelers a day.

 

Continue here w/video interview.

[KevinKorell]

Amtrak website:

 

 

Amtrak Announces Schedule Changes to Speed Infrastructure Renewal at New York Penn Station

 

 

Amtrak is announcing preliminary schedules as part of the Infrastructure Renewal at New York Penn Station, a series of major track and switch renewal projects that will strengthen railroad infrastructure, operations and preparedness and, ultimately improve reliability at America’s busiest rail hub.

 

More here.

 

No details in this announcement.   Takeaway is that it will cause the Crescent to be cut back to Washington, DC, some Regionals will be cancelled or turn before New York City, and some Keystones will only operate between Philadelphia and Harrisburg.  They haven't decided yet about Empire Service.

[KevinKorell]

Amtrak announced preliminary schedules as part of the Infrastructure Renewal at New York Penn Station, a series of major track and switch renewal projects that will strengthen railroad infrastructure, operations, and preparedness, as well as improve reliability at America’s busiest rail hub.

“Amtrak is accelerating its work to improve conditions and reliability of the tracks at Penn Station during the summer,” said Amtrak President/CEO Wick Moorman. “While we regret that this work requires some reduction in train service and disruption to passengers over the summer months, we believe it will ultimately be worth the investment in terms of increased reliability of passenger rail travel. In addition, while Amtrak’s own service at Penn Station will face the largest impact of the three railroads in terms of proportional reductions in train service during the work period, we will use all the tools we can, such as lengthening trains, to continue to provide capacity for our intercity travelers going to or from New York.”

RELATED: NY employers exploring alternatives during Penn Station track work

Amtrak Schedule

The following service adjustments have been made to Amtrak’s weekday schedule, in effect from July 10 to Sept. 1:

• Acela Express: No changes
• Northeast Regional Service: Three round trip trains (six total trains) between New York City and Washington, D.C. canceled. Service between New York City and Boston will operate at currently scheduled levels.
• Keystone Service: Three round trip trains (six total trains) will start and end in Philadelphia, and one round trip train (two total trains) will start and end at Newark, New Jersey. Service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg will operate at currently scheduled levels.
• Empire Service: To be announced shortly.
• Long-Distance Service: The Crescent, operating between New York City and New Orleans, will originate and terminate in Washington, D.C. daily during work period. Connections will be provided on other Northeast Corridor trains.

Amtrak’s reservation systems have been updated to reflect these schedule changes and any passenger already booked on a train that has been canceled or altered will be contacted and accommodated on other scheduled services.

RELATED: NJ Transit rail derailment injures 5

Infrastructure Renewal at Penn Station

The Infrastructure Renewal work accelerates several years of already planned improvement of track, switch, and other infrastructure at Penn Station to improve track conditions. The major work will require Amtrak and its partners to operate on a modified schedule from July 10 to Sept. 1, 2017. The work during this summer period will occur in “A Interlocking,” which serves as the critical sorting mechanism routing incoming and outgoing trains that enter and exit Penn Station from the Hudson River tunnel and the LIRR’s West Side Yard to the various station tracks and platforms. The work in A Interlocking includes total track and switch replacement. This work is presently fully-funded.

Additional work will last through approximately June 2018, with most of it taking place on weekends, resulting in minimal impacts to service.

While the plan is designed to renew overused and aging infrastructure, overall improvement in reliability of Penn Station will require a commitment from all of the users of Penn Station, the Administration, and Congress to provide investment in the Northeast Corridor and to fund the Gateway Program’s Hudson Tunnel project and the expansion of Penn Station.

The Renewal work is designed to address the reliability issues caused by the significant growth in train volumes at New York Penn Station coupled with its aging infrastructure.

There has been an almost three million passenger increase in just over 10 years — more than 10.4 million intercity passengers annually; more than 450,000 intercity and commuter rail passenger trips daily; and more than 1,300 train movements per weekday travel through Penn Station.

Keywords

Acela Express   Amtrak   infrastructure improvements   NJ Transit   passenger rail   Penn Station   Wick Moorman   

 

Follow @lctmag on Twitter

View the full article

[jacorbett70]

Keystones 642, 650, 652 / 651, 653, 655 are blocked out (causing Sold Out) NYP-PHL during that time. 640/643 are blocked out NYP-NWK.

[KevinKorell]

Thanks, John.  On the Regionals, the cancelled trips are 111, 183, and 127 southbound, and 110, 180, and 186 northbound.    Other Regionals it appears may be rescheduled to help pick up the slack, effectively combining two trains into one; those presumably would get the longer consists. For example, Regional 94 will run an hour later than usual out of Washington in the time slot of 186.

 

 

Train 19 runs WAS-NOL, and its substitute NYP-WAS is Acela 2163.  Train 20 runs NOL-WAS, and its substitute WAS-NYP is Acela 2164.  I wonder if the Crescent will temporarily get Superliners, since single level trains usually aren't turned in Washington.  The concern about the Hudson River and Baltimore tunnels is moot.  And it is noted they didn't cut the Silver Service trains back to Washington; they surely could have if they did it to the Crescent.

[CNJRoss]

Amtrak news release:

 

Amtrak Announces Schedule Changes to Speed Infrastructure Renewal at New York Penn Station

 

May30, 2017

Corridor service to be impacted; passengers encouraged to book early

 

WASHINGTON – Amtrak is announcing preliminary schedules as part of the Infrastructure Renewal at New York Penn Station, a series of major track and switch renewal projects that will strengthen railroad infrastructure, operations and preparedness and, ultimately improve reliability at America’s busiest rail hub.

 

“Amtrak is accelerating its work to improve conditions and reliability of the tracks at Penn Station during the summer,” said Amtrak President & CEO Wick Moorman. “While we regret that this work requires some reduction in train service and disruption to passengers over the summer months, we believe it will ultimately be worth the investment in terms of increased reliability of passenger rail travel. In addition, while Amtrak’s own service at Penn Station will face the largest impact of the three railroads in terms of proportional reductions in train service during the work period, we will use all the tools we can, such as lengthening trains, to continue to provide capacity for our intercity travelers going to or from New York.”

 

Amtrak Schedule

The following service adjustments have been made to Amtrak’s weekday schedule, in effect from July 10 – Sept. 1:

• Acela Express: No changes.
• Northeast Regional Service: Three round trip trains (six total trains) between New York City and Washington, D.C. canceled. Service between New York City and Boston will operate at currently scheduled levels.
• Keystone Service: Three round trip trains (six total trains) will start and end in Philadelphia, and one round trip train (two total trains) will start and end at Newark, New Jersey. Service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg will operate at currently scheduled levels.
• Empire Service:  To be announced shortly.
• Long-Distance Service:  The Crescent, operating between New York City and New Orleans, will originate and terminate in Washington, D.C. daily during work period. Connections will be provided on other Northeast Corridor trains.

Amtrak’s reservation systems have been updated to reflect these schedule changes and any passenger already booked on a train that has been canceled or altered will be contacted and accommodated on other scheduled services.

 

Infrastructure Renewal at Penn Station

The Infrastructure Renewal work accelerates several years of already planned improvement of track, switch and other infrastructure at Penn Station to improve track conditions. The major work will require Amtrak and its partners to operate on a modified schedule from July 10 – Sept. 1, 2017. The work during this summer period will occur in “A Interlocking,” which serves as the critical sorting mechanism routing incoming and outgoing trains that enter and exit Penn Station from the Hudson River tunnel and the LIRR’s West Side Yard to the various station tracks and platforms. The work in A Interlocking includes total track and switch replacement. This work is presently fully-funded.

 

Additional work will last through approximately June 2018, with most of it taking place on weekends, resulting in minimal impacts to service.

While the plan is designed to renew overused and aging infrastructure, overall improvement in reliability of Penn Station will require a commitment from all of the users of Penn Station, the Administration and Congress to provide investment in the Northeast Corridor and to fund the Gateway Program’s Hudson Tunnel project and the expansion of Penn Station.

 

The Renewal work is designed to address the reliability issues caused by the significant growth in train volumes at New York Penn Station coupled with its aging infrastructure.

 

There has been an almost 3 million passenger increase in just over 10 years. More than 10.4 million intercity passengers annually; more than 450,000 intercity and commuter rail passenger trips daily; and more than 1,300 train movements per weekday travel through Penn Station.

 

Customer Information

The following resources are available for all Amtrak customers:

• Amtrak.com/NYPrenewal:  Find the latest train schedule information, updates on the project as well as an overview of the plan.
• Amtrak Social Media: Amtrak’s blog and social media accounts will provide service updates, program progress and a behind-the-scenes look at the work happening. Customers can follow @AmtrakNEC and @Amtrak on Twitter for timely information.
• Email or text alerts: Amtrak is offering a new feature that will allow customers to sign up to receive customized texts or emails for train and service information.
• Amtrak.com and the mobile app: To check the status of your train, or to modify existing reservations, visit Amtrak.com or the Amtrak mobile app.
• New York Penn Station: There will be additional signage, announcements and station ambassadors on hand to answer customer inquiries.

 

 

[KevinKorell]

The alternate timetables for the summer (effective July 10, 2017) are starting to appear.
 
Northeast Corridor (New York-Washington segment)
Keystone Service
Crescent

 

 

Still nothing on the Empire Service, and we have about 5 weeks to go.  One can assume that Amtrak is still trying to work out whether they will reroute some trains to Grand Central Terminal (GCT), and if so, how many.  It could be more confusing to passengers if some are rerouted to GCT and others remain at Penn Station. If a reroute does not happen, would that mean that some Empire Service trains would be cancelled? Or terminate at Croton-Harmon or Yonkers forcing people onto Metro North? Or -- more Northeast Corridor trains affected which would render the above timetable premature and useless?

 

When whatever shakes out as the Empire Service schedule is released, it will more than likely also require an update to the timetables of the Maple Leaf, Adirondack, Ethan Allen/Vermonter, and Lake Shore Limited.

[KevinKorell]

Albany, NY Times-Union, 6/9/17:

 

 

​

Region's rail riders still waiting for Amtrak plans

 

 

One month from now, Amtrak will begin an ambitious, summer-long project to replace aging tracks and switches at Penn Station in Manhattan.

 

The railroad has announced schedule changes and adjustments for all its services using Penn, except for one: the Empire Corridor from the Capital Region.

 

Really this is just speculation based on leaks until an official announcement comes.

[KevinKorell]

Looking at the summer Crescent timetable, it shows the Silver Meteor #97 as the New York-Washington connection for #19, and northbound the Washington-New York connection in lieu of #20 will be Regional #176 on weekdays and Regional #140 on weekends.  

 

The reservations system now allows one to connect to #19 from Silver Meteor #97 daily, Acela Express #2163 weekdays, Regional #93 Mondays through Thursdays, Regional #83 Fridays, Regional #147 Saturdays, or Regional #145 Sundays.

 

The reservations system now allows one to connect from #20 to Acela Express #2164 weekdays, Acela Express #2254 weekends, Regional #176 weekdays, or Regional #140 weekends.

[CNJRoss]

NY MTA "Bridges and Tunnels" news release, 6/12:

 

 

GOVERNOR CUOMO ORDERS ACCELERATION OF CONSTRUCTION ON BRIDGES AND TUNNELS IN ANTICIPATION OF ADDED TRAFFIC DUE TO AMTRAK EMERGENCY REPAIR WORK

 

Major Construction Projects Will be Complete by July 8th to Mitigate Impact - All Major Commuting Crossings Will Be Cashless and All Lanes Will Be Open During Daytime to Streamline Commutes

 

 

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has ordered an acceleration of the construction on MTA bridges and tunnels to mitigate the effects of additional vehicles on the road caused by Amtrak's emergency repair work this summer. This aggressive schedule ensures major construction projects will be completed by July 8 to reduce vehicular congestion during Amtrak's extended period of widespread reduced service. Governor Cuomo's order will mean that all major commuting crossings will be cashless and all lanes will be open during the daytime.

 

"Our top priority is ensuring all New Yorkers can get where they need to go as quickly and easily as possible this summer and we're taking every conceivable step to prepare for Amtrak's summer of hell," Governor Cuomo said. "By aggressively expediting construction we are taking action to ease commutes and provide New Yorkers with peace of mind."

 

A special interagency team, composed of the Governor's Office, the Department of Transportation and the MTA, is overseeing the expedited construction. In May, Governor Cuomo directed the MTA to develop a comprehensive mitigation plan to combat the Pennsylvania Station summer crisis. Amtrak is proposing repairs that would reduce the number of trains at Pennsylvania Station by approximately 20 percent during peak travel times and as a result, commuters searching for alternative methods of transportation will crush an already overburdened subway system and clog roads and bridges.

 

Construction projects that will be accelerated for completion by July 8th:

 

Verrazano Narrows Bridge:

• ORT Construction: Cashless Tolling Go Live date accelerated by nearly five months, from November 30, 2017 to July 8, 2017. This will improve traffic flow by allowing customers to travel without stopping to pay a toll.  
• New Bus/HOV Lane on Upper Level: Project completion accelerated five months, from November 2017 to week of June 19th, 2017, allowing for the opening of the Brooklyn bound BUS HOV lane. Will result in a continuous 14-mile Bus/HOV lane from Staten Island to Lower Manhattan - improving traffic flow on the Staten Island and Gowanus Expressways - providing up to 15 minutes reduction in travel time for over 30,000 daily commuters. Adding this 7th lane increases roadway capacity by 16 percent.  
• New BUS/HOV Ramp: Completed one month early, the ramp will link the Verrazano bridge to the Gowanus Expressway with the new Bus/HOV ramp.

Queens-Midtown Tunnel:

• Tunnel Sandy Reconstruction: Accelerated construction of the north tube from August 31, 2017 to July 8, 2017. Motorists will experience full use of both tubes during daytime hours with suspension of daytime weekend closures starting July 8, 2017, which will significantly improve customer travel time.
• Manhattan Downtown Exit Plaza Rehabilitation: Completion by July 4, 2017. The entire ramp will be re-opened to operate at its full two-lane capacity for customers using the downtown Manhattan exit ramp of the QMT. One of the two ramp lanes has been closed since September 16, 2016.

Robert F. Kennedy Bridge:

• ORT Construction: Cashless Tolling Go Live date accelerated two and a half months, from August 31, 2017 to June 15, 2017. Improves traffic flow by allowing customers to travel without stopping to pay a toll.
• New 125th Street Manhattan on-bound ramp to RFK Bridge: Accelerated ramp reconstruction by six months from December 31, 2017 to June 30, 2017. Project restores full capacity of the ramp with both lanes opened, thereby improving traffic flow from Manhattan to Queens/Bronx. One of the two lanes has been closed since February 29, 2016.
• Reconstruction of Queens to Manhattan Ramp: Construction completion by July 8, 2017. One lane has been closed to accommodate ramp reconstruction since July 23, 2016. Restoring this ramp to its full capacity will improve traffic flow and ease congestion in this heavily traveled corridor.
• Queens & Bronx Bound Plaza Reconstruction: Construction completion accelerated three months, from September 2017 to June 30, 2017. Project will improve roadway alignment and traffic flow.
• Bronx & Manhattan Toll Plaza Demolition: Accelerated demolition of toll booths to July 8, 2017 from original September 30, 2017.

Hugh L Carey Tunnel:

• Brooklyn Plaza Reconstruction: Fast tracked completion to July 7, 2017 from original completion date of July 15, 2017. This project opens up the plaza to free-flow traffic. Restores evening contra-flow traffic by providing three outbound lanes from lower Manhattan which will ease the evening commute.