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Commentary
July 9, 2025|Passenger

East River Tunnel Rehabilitation, Sunnyside Yard, Rensselaer and Beyond: An Update

Written by David Peter Alan, Contributing Editor
(Amtrak photo)
Amtrak’s long-term closure of one of the tunnel tubes (Amtrak calls them “lines”) under the East River between Penn Station and Queens remains controversial. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, other elected officials in the Empire State, and rider-advocates in New York and New Jersey have called instead for the work to be done on nights and weekends, similar to the way the L-train tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn on the subway system’s Canarsie Line was repaired in 2020-21: in only one year and without having to resort to a 15-month complete shutdown, which area residents feared.

We reported on the situation as a political story on June 11, although there has not been much news about it since that time. As part of our reporting, we mentioned certain new schedules that are less convenient for the riders than would have been the case if all tunnel “lines” could remain open during the times of day when the railroad is busy. Some of the impacts are long waits at Rensselaer (the station that serves Albany) and fewer trains on the schedule. There is another inconvenience that now affects passengers on the westbound Lake Shore Limited, Train 49. It is not as severe as a service cut or a significant increase in travel time, but it is a negative impact that Amtrak does not mention publicly. It affected my ride on Saturday, June 14.

There was something unusual about our departure from Penn Station in New York City that day. Instead of moving forward with the Hudson River off to our left, we all traveled facing backwards, with the river to our right. After arriving in Rensselaer and before joining up with Train 449 from Boston, Train 49 made a detour onto a yard track in the Albany-Rensselaer area to change direction and allow us to face forward during the rest of the trip to Chicago. The entire operation took about 20 minutes. If it’s on time, the train is scheduled to stand at Rensselaer for almost 60 minutes (the “official” standing time is less because the schedule is padded), so there is enough time for the operation, unless the train is running behind schedule. Interestingly, there was no such “rare-mileage excursion” on the yard trackage on my trip back to New York on Train 48 almost two weeks later.

The inconvenience of having to ride backwards for a few hours is not as severe as the extended travel times and loss of departure frequencies that are affecting riders on other trains as a result of Amtrak’s decision to shut a tunnel line down for the anticipated two-year duration of the East River Tunnel Rehabilitation project. Still, it’s an inconvenience that Amtrak did not disclose to the riding public, and it came as an unpleasant surprise. When we asked Amtrak about the Rensselaer situation, the original reply we received was generic and did not relate to the particular situation: “Data show that just 10 out of nearly 350 trains, or 2.9%, have left an hour or more late since the start of the East River Tunnel Rehabilitation project. In addition, at least half of these delays are not related to the East River Tunnel project, but rather anomalies due to other variables, including engine failure, debris blocking the tracks, or other causes.” That statement related to on-time performance for Empire Service trains, and Train 49 still ran on schedule over that portion of the route—at least when I rode. If Amtrak can handle additional complexity with a new operating scenario for Train 49 between New York and Rensselaer, there is no reason to call Amtrak out about that particular train. Other trains that were rescheduled for longer running times, including those going to or from Canada, are a different matter.

There was one other issue of concern. An employee said that there is no convenient way to wye the train at New York, even though Train 48 is scheduled to arrive in the early evening and Train 49 is not scheduled to leave until the next afternoon—almost 21 hours later. If it is so difficult to wye the train during that amount of time in New York that it has to be done in Rensselaer, the situation indicates that Amtrak might be stretched thinner in New York City than it wishes to disclose. That could be difficult.