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MTA project to bring Metro-North trains to Penn Station is delayed
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Oct 27, 2025
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Emily Moser/MTA
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Oct 27, 2025
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A major project to bring Metro-North trains to Penn Station and open four new stations for the commuter line in the Bronx is at least three years behind schedule, MTA officials said Monday, blaming the federally run Amtrak for the delays.
MTA officials proposed an alternative plan to open three out of the four stations and deliver around 50% of the planned service by 2027, which was the year the whole project was to be completed. The full $2.9 billion project, known as Penn Access, will now not be completed until 2030 at the earliest, MTA construction chief Jamie Torres-Springer said.
MTA officials blamed Amtrak, saying the national rail line had refused to close its tracks to allow work to be done on schedule. The blame game is the latest example of an escalating conflict between the MTA and Amtrak.
Earlier this year, Amtrak took over the redesign of Penn Station from the MTA. The MTA, meanwhile, warned Amtrak of potential disruptions to LIRR service tied to the rehabilitation of a pair of tunnels in the East River.
“On Penn Access, we’re working on Amtrak territory, which requires cooperation by Amtrak, which it has struggled to deliver,” Torres-Springer said at a capital program committee meeting Monday. “Even this projected date requires a level of cooperation from Amtrak that we have not gotten.”
MTA officials said the cost of the overall project will likely increase because of the delays and temporary service plan.
The Penn Access project would send Metro-North trains from the Bronx through Queens to Penn Station via the Hell Gate Bridge. Amtrak controls much of that route.
“If you get into an agreement and you immediately don’t comply, it raises issues of whether the agreement was in good faith,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber said. The agency is demanding an agreement with Amtrak on future work by Nov. 12.
The temporary plan, if approved by Amtrak, would run Metro-North trains on two existing tracks of the Hell Gate line to temporary stations at Co-Op City and Morris Park, as well as a new, permanent station at Parkchester/Van Nest. A fourth station at Hunt’s Point wouldn’t be part of the temporary service plan.
The MTA said the plan would offer seven trains during the morning peak and five trains during the afternoon peak. The preliminary plan would serve 11,000 daily riders in the Bronx.
The project spans 19 miles of existing track. The MTA agreed that they’d rehabilitate the existing tracks and infrastructure for Amtrak, add two new tracks and make other upgrades.
"We remain committed to this critical project, and being good stewards of taxpayer investment for Amtrak, MTA customers, New York residents, and travelers," Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams said.
At the Monday meeting, an independent consulting firm, Ankura, agreed that Amtrak had not scheduled sufficient service outages to get the Penn Access work done on schedule.
MTA officials have pitched Penn Access as a project that will bring Metro-North service to 500,000 Bronx residents living within a mile of the new stations.
Lieber invoked one of the agency’s most notoriously delayed and over-budget projects when discussing Penn Access.
East Side Access — which was later renamed Grand Central Madison — brought LIRR trains to Grand Central Terminal. That project cost $11.6 billion, according to federal records, and opened in 2023. The project was first proposed in the 1990s.
“This is deadly serious. This is us, the MTA, trying to figure out, let’s not have East Side Access again, let's start the service on time,” Lieber said.
Tagged
bronx
transportation
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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