‘Summer of Hell’ at Penn Station Set to Cool, Amtrak Says

By JOSEPH MODICA

As the notorious “summer of hell” drew to a close, Amtrak executives announced on Thursday that regular service at beleaguered Penn Station would resume on Sept 5th.

Flanked by workers in white hard hats and bright orange safety vests, Scot Naparstek, Vice President of Operations at Amtrak, promised riders that work on the transportation hub would be completed on time and that the new repairs will allow a “more reliable train operation.”

The announcement marked the end of an eight-week period of infrastructure repairs that caused train delays and longer wait times, nicknamed “summer of hell” by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The repairs required 1,296 of man hours and required 360 skilled employees, who laid “six football fields worth of track,” poured 176 yards of concrete, placed 897 track ties  and installed 1,000 tons of ballast, said chief engineer Gery Williams. He called the work “tough” since work continued while the trains ran, but added that “our work is never done.”

More repairs and improvements will continue into fall next year, with several upgrades like public restrooms and waiting room expansions slated for the end of the year.

To prevent a repeat of earlier this year where several trains derailed, Naparstek said that “we will continue to be aggressive in inspections” and promised to have funding “into the foreseeable future” to prevent future service stoppages.

After Tuesday, Amtrak will focus their attention to other projects, including repairing Hudson Tunnel and the Gateway Project, a program to expand Amtrak operations to accommodate more passengers and trains by building four new lines between Newark, NJ and Penn Station.