Dozens of Long Island Rail Road trains using Amtrak-owned tunnels, including rush-hour trains on the Port Washington and Port Jefferson lines, are still facing cancellations and service changes following Hurricane Sandy.
Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) took Amtrak to task for the length of the service restrictions and communication problems at a press conference Tuesday Nov. 27 and announced that Amtrak president Joseph Boardman had assured him all tunnels would be restored by Christmas week.
“It is unacceptable for Amtrak to withhold information from LIRR riders, many of whom depend on the system on a daily basis. While needed repairs after Sandy are understandable, riders should be kept abreast of the progress and be able to plan in advance for delays,” said Israel in a statement.
“Long Island Rail Road Riders are tired of being kept in the dark by Amtrak when it comes to the East River tunnels. Amtrak, as a publicly chartered entity, owes transparency to the public especially those who use its facilities,” said LIRR Commuter Council Chair Mark Epstein in the statement.
The affected trains include a series of cancelled rush-hour trains on the Port Washington line; two morning Port Jefferson trains to Penn Station from Cold Spring Harbor and Mineola, and the 5:46 p.m. return train to Huntington.
Delays between cancelled trains and their replacements can run up to 20 minutes, according to the MTA.
Amtrak, a for-profit corporation that was established by the federal government and received hundreds of millions of dollars in annual appropriations from Washington, owns the tunnels used by LIRR trains to cross underneath the East River.
Two of those four tunnels are still not fully operational, according to Israel’s press release.
Amtrak spokesperson Cliff Cole said the rail line had worked to keep its customers informed and coordinate with the LIRR.
“We’ve communicated regularly with LIRR management. They’re a partner of ours and we’re all in this together,” Cole said.
Cole said that while partial service had been restored for weeks, Sandy’s historic levels of flooding had caused damage that was difficult to repair – including the need to replace the tunnels’ signal system.
By Christmas, Cole confirmed, normal scheduling would return.
“We recognize that the time has come to restore full service to Long Island Rail Road passengers,” Cole said.
Details on service changes can be found at http://www.mta.info/lirr/.
