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MTA raised alarms about Amtrak tunnel plan before this week's Penn Station meltdown
By
Stephen Nessen
Published May 16, 2026
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Stephen Nessen
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Stephen Nessen
Published May 16, 2026
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MTA officials spent months last year warning that an Amtrak construction plan would spark service meltdowns at Penn Station.
That prediction proved true Thursday after a fire in an East River train tunnel sparked widespread service disruptions that continued into Saturday morning.
Amtrak owns four East River tunnels that are also used by Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit trains. Two of them suffered flood damage in 2012 from Hurricane Sandy, and Amtrak last year started a job that would fully close each tunnel one at a time for repairs.
The project has since reduced the number of tunnels connecting trains between Penn Station and Queens from four to three. And before it began, MTA officials begged them to instead do the work on nights and weekends, similar to how repairs were made on the L train’s East River subway tunnel in 2019.
A 24/7 East River tunnel closure “leaves little to no room for error,” LIRR President Rob Free said during a news conference in April 2025, before the work began. “The slightest deviation could have significant impacts to our operations, reliability, including possible shutdowns of service depending on the issue.”
Amtrak officials on Thursday said a track fire damaged equipment in two of its tunnels, forcing both of them to close. With one more shut for repairs, that left just one river crossing to carry trains through North America's busiest rail interlockings.
During a news conference on Friday, Free all but said “I told you so” to Amtrak.
“This is one of the things we warned about, with one of the East River tunnels out long term this is one of the risks that we were taking,” Free said.
Amtrak officials said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. But the service problems persisted into Friday evening’s rush, when most LIRR trains — the primary users of the East River tunnels — were redirected from Penn Station to Grand Central Madison and Atlantic Terminal.
Amtrak did not respond to a request for comment.
Last month, Amtrak sued the MTA for not allowing it to test its newest Acela trains on tracks shared with the MTA. In the lawsuit, the MTA claimed the NextGen Acela trains damaged a Metro-North bridge and overhead powerline. Amtrak claimed it redesigned the equipment on the train that caused the damage.
The two agencies have also fought over the plan to redevelop Penn station after President Donald Trump wrested the project from the MTA last year and put it under Amtrak's control.
Tagged
long island
manhattan
new york city
queens
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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