- Title: Penn Station commuters face summer transit woes
- Date: 25th May 2017
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 25, 2017) (REUTERS) PASSENGERS IN THE LOBBY OF PENN STATION DEPARTURES BOARD PASSENGERS LUGGAGE PASSENGERS VARIOUS OF TRAIN MOVING ON TRACKS TRACKS VARIOUS OF SIGNAL LIGHTS TRAIN ARRIVING AT PLATFORM SIGNAL LIGHT SIGN READING (English): 'PENNSYLVANIA STATION NEW YORK' VARIOUS OF WORKERS ON PLATFORM, WATER DRIPPING AMTRAK VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS EAST, MIKE DECATALDO, TALKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMTRAK VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS EAST, MIKE DECATALDO, SAYING: "This is the area where all the trains in New Jersey, from Washington, come through, and it gets the sorting out of being able to distribute those trains throughout the plan. And it is probably the most complicated, interlocking in our system." CAUTION SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMTRAK VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS EAST, MIKE DECATALDO, SAYING: "The basic infrastructure of the railroad is all needed to last. As we replace the steel, as we take that all out, we'll will take it down to ground that as far as we can. There may be some concrete under it that needs to be placed as well. And then we will build that component it back up again. So, it is the replacement of ballast, it's the replacement of new ties, new steel, new switches, so that it all works as one component." TRACKS TRAIN ON TRACKS (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMTRAK VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS EAST, MIKE DECATALDO, SAYING: "We recognize the inconvenience that this is going to cause all the customers of the railroad. We're working with New Jersey Transit, the Long Island Railroad, to get that schedule as quickly as we can because we know everyone is trying to make plans. So, we're hoping sooner rather than later but we're still working on that." VARIOUS OF TRAIN LEAVING STATION VARIOUS OF TRAIN COMING IN TRACK SIGN VARIOUS OF TRAIN
- Embargoed: 8th June 2017 20:01
- Keywords: signals track repairs construction commuters Penn Station trains Amtrak
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0016IC9KKL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Commuters will be faced with a partial shutdown of New York's Pennsylvania Station this summer due to track repairs, with some employers in the largest U.S. city scrambling to come up with "Plan B" offerings to allow their suburb-dwelling staff to avoid the largely shuttered transit hub.
Penn Station - the busiest train station in the U.S. - will make repairs requiring weeks-long outages in July and August. The work is expected to trigger a travel nightmare for employees living in New Jersey and Long Island suburbs, according to businesses.
Penn Station serves three commuter train lines: Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road. Amtrak owns the station's tracks and was responsible for two recent derailments that prompted it to speed up long-planned repairs.
At a tour of the underground tracks for media, Amtrak Vice President of Operations East Mike Decataldo described the station as "probably the most complicated, interlocking in our system."
"As we replace the steel, as we take that all out, we'll will take it down to ground that as far as we can. There may be some concrete under it that needs to be placed as well. And then we will build that component it back up again," he said.
"We recognize the inconvenience that this is going to cause all the customers of the railroad. We're working with New Jersey Transit, the Long Island Railroad, to get that schedule as quickly as we can because we know everyone is trying to make plans. So, we're hoping sooner rather than later but we're still working on that," Decataldo added.
The three railroads together are devising a scheme for which tracks to take offline for repairs, and where to reroute other trains. Summer outages are expected from July 7 through July 25 and Aug. 4 through Aug. 28. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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