Work at New York Penn

[west point]

LIRR not wanting to cut trains may have to do with not wanting to loose out the total count of passengers to MNRR ?

 

[jis]

LIRR not wanting to cut trains may have to do with not wanting to loose out the total count of passengers to MNRR ?

Seems like an odd reason to compromise safety.

 

[neroden]

But LIRR really needs to eprform much better in Capital Projects than the low bar they have set for themselves with the ESA project.

Is it *possible* to set a lower bar than the LIRR? Perhaps the unfinished Jakarta Monorail, where the pillars are all built (the difficult and expensive part) but nobody ever bothered to finish putting the trackbed up? (Though they are now using the pillars for an elevated LRT, so that's good.)
Or the original Cincinnati Subway?

Short of those, LIRR seems to have the worst-managed capital projects in the world.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Having been at loggerheads with one of their former planning directors, I can't imagine why.

 

[jis]

Having been at loggerheads with one of their former planning directors, I can't imagine why.

LOL! I share your feeling.

 

[west point]

Having been at loggerheads with one of their former planning directors, I can't imagine why.

LOL! I share your feeling.

The results or more lack of results with their last few projects including "Sandy" preparations seems to put spotlight on these problems ?

ESA and Harold flyovers are just some of the biggest.

 

[CelticWhisper]

So do we think this will interfere with a WAS-PVD Acela trip since it passes through NYP?

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I think that things that have been neglected for years are finally getting fixed thanks to Wick Moorman actually being a lifelong railroad man and realizing what has to be done instead of sweeping it under the rug or not understanding the severity of the deteriorating infrastructure.

I find it ironic that the NJ newspapers have an article almost every day about how commuters to New York will have to put up with 15-minute delays because of the repair work. NJT has routinely had 15-minute delays for years now, for reasons far less important than this. I simply assume my southbound NJT train will come into Princeton Junction 15 minutes late every afternoon and plan accordingly.

The other ironic thing is that New York commuters have more than one train a day and other options to get around. The people who should be complaining are those who have one train in and out of town three days a week and that's it.

 

[John Bobinyec]

So do we think this will interfere with a WAS-PVD Acela trip since it passes through NYP?

All depends on which tracks are taken out at any given time.

jb

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

If the LD trains could not run into NYP, would they continue as far as PHL? I have a trip planned to LI in July during a work period, but as long as the train reached PHL I could still make it to the LIRR using a combination of SEPTA, NJT, PATH, and NYC Subway.

 

[jis]

ESA and Harold flyovers are just some of the biggest.

There are no Harold flyovers. They are both duck-unders.

 

[jis]

If the LD trains could not run into NYP, would they continue as far as PHL? I have a trip planned to LI in July during a work period, but as long as the train reached PHL I could still make it to the LIRR using a combination of SEPTA, NJT, PATH, and NYC Subway.

I doubt that any LD service will be affected, other than some possible timetable adjustments. I also doubt very much that too many Acelas will be affected, again except for some minor timetable adjustments. What will be most affected are NJT and LIRR Commuter train, which are likely to face significant service reduction over those two periods.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Curbed had an article about a roof leak in Penn today as well as all the track issues (at least that's what I thought I saw - as in it was a new article).

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I suppose a link would be more useful than me just saying it, so here you go!

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/5/4/15542276/penn-station-repairs-andrew-cuomo

 

[jis]

If the LD trains could not run into NYP, would they continue as far as PHL? I have a trip planned to LI in July during a work period, but as long as the train reached PHL I could still make it to the LIRR using a combination of SEPTA, NJT, PATH, and NYC Subway.

I doubt that any LD service will be affected, other than some possible timetable adjustments. I also doubt very much that too many Acelas will be affected, again except for some minor timetable adjustments. What will be most affected are NJT and LIRR Commuter train, which are likely to face significant service reduction over those two periods.

Coming to think of it, the one LD train in greatest danger of being affected is the Lake Shore Limited, since it passes through a hard to avoid single point. Although with some care in planning it may be avoidable too. The other trains have many alternative paths through the station, and it is hard to imagine that they will knock out all those paths at the same time.

 

[Maverickstation]

Another story, this from the NY Times, listing how many days services could be impacted.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/nyregion/amtrak-penn-station-repairs-track-closings.html?_r=0

Ken

 

[railiner]

If the LD trains could not run into NYP, would they continue as far as PHL? I have a trip planned to LI in July during a work period, but as long as the train reached PHL I could still make it to the LIRR using a combination of SEPTA, NJT, PATH, and NYC Subway.

I doubt that any LD service will be affected, other than some possible timetable adjustments. I also doubt very much that too many Acelas will be affected, again except for some minor timetable adjustments. What will be most affected are NJT and LIRR Commuter train, which are likely to face significant service reduction over those two periods.

Coming to think of it, the one LD train in greatest danger of being affected is the Lake Shore Limited, since it passes through a hard to avoid single point. Although with some care in planning it may be avoidable too. The other trains have many alternative paths through the station, and it is hard to imagine that they will knock out all those paths at the same time.

The Lake Shore (or a special shuttle train from ALB), could operate into NYG during those closures....

I know...the MTA would 'never' allow that....

 

[jis]

The problem will be getting the Lakeshore consist serviced mechanically, specially if a car needs to be swapped out. The same obstruction that keeps it from getting to Penn Station will keep it from getting to Sunnyside, unless a convoluted move via Mott Haven, Woodlawn and New Rochelle is made. Yeah, such has been done before, but just as a one off, not as a daily thing.

 

[railiner]

What I suggested as a possibility, was to turn and service the Lake Shore at ALB, and run a shuttle train to connect it to NYG. Such a train, with say a Dinette, could be stocked for the round trip, and looped at GCT...

 

[west point]

What I suggested as a possibility, was to turn and service the Lake Shore at ALB, and run a shuttle train to connect it to NYG. Such a train, with say a Dinette, could be stocked for the round trip, and looped at GCT...

There would be no way to rotate equipment for its periodic maintenance at MIA. If Amtrak is not able to run ALB > NYP for an extended period some thing will need some rotation thru New Rochelle or BOS if hopefully some diners come from CAF ?

 

[Thirdrail7]

What I suggested as a possibility, was to turn and service the Lake Shore at ALB, and run a shuttle train to connect it to NYG. Such a train, with say a Dinette, could be stocked for the round trip, and looped at GCT...

There would be no way to rotate equipment for its periodic maintenance at MIA. If Amtrak is not able to run ALB > NYP for an extended period some thing will need some rotation thru New Rochelle or BOS if hopefully some diners come from CAF ?

If it comes to a long term outage, you will likely see the schedules adjusted so the Lake Shore, Adirondack and Maple Leaf can operate the Hell Gate line. The complete outage of the impacted tracks shouldn't take too long. It is the rest of the Empire Service that becomes an issue.

Even if they used the above plan, it is still easy enough to rotate equipment to MIA. All you have to do is have the equipment continue east on 448 to BOS. At BOS, you add it to ND67 and transfer the car at WAS. If the car doesn't affect track the MAS for a regional (AM2, AM1, etc), you can add it to 179, which terminates in NYP. They can add it the equipment to 91 or 97 in SSYD. If it is a weekend, they can send it on 169 to WAS and transfer to HIA. This of course assumes that some other facility can't handle the PM work. The PM facilities have increased over the last few years. A car may not have to go to HIA unless there is a major issue.

There are always options.

 

[railiner]

I didn't know about the requirement to go to Miami for PM...surprised to hear it could't be accomplished in Chicago...

If that's the case, they could also get the cars from Chicago to Miami via New York on the Cardinal....

But as was said, the outage for the Empire Connection track rehab hopefully wouldn't take too long, making none of those measures necessary...

 

[jis]

The rehab in question is not of the Empire Connection track but of what is called the U Ladder (IIRC) which has to be crossed to get to the Empire Connection. There are ways of working around it with a little careful planning, so the outage should not be long, if there is any at all.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

The Amtrak website is showing sold out for the Crescent to all points north of Washington for most of July and August, so I presume it will be terminating and originating there. It

appears that passengers bound for points north of Washington will have to transfer there to a Northeast Regional or Acela. The Cardinal, Silver Star, and Silver Meteor do not appear to be affected. However, multiple

Regionals also appear to be cancelled. Although it is still possible to book tickets for all trains on the Empire Corridor, Grand Central

Terminal is now appearing as a station option so I assume those adjustments will soon follow.

 

[west point]

So far web site shows 7 trains NYP <> WAS cancelled. Crescent cancellations north of WASH will mean one less consist need for the Crescent. Maybe will enable consist to be added to other Crescent consists. That will also help the critical diner situation.