After a summer of serving New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, five Amtrak routes return to New York’s Penn Station. Amtrak completed their summer infrastructure renewal work at Penn Station, allowing the Empire Service (New York-Albany-Niagara Falls), Ethan Allen (New York-Rutland), Adirondack (New York-Montréal), and Maple Leaf (New York-Toronto). Additionally, the Lake Shore Limited has also returned to New York Penn Station, reconnecting direct service between Chicago and New York City. Together, these five routes were shifted to Grand Central Terminal for the summer to accommodate extensive track and infrastructure upgrades.
“We are proud to announce that we’ve completed this renewal project on schedule and within budget,” said Scot Naparstek, Amtrak Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “As always, we want to thank our customers for their patience, our commuter partners for their continued cooperation and for the confidence both groups have in Amtrak to improve train reliability for customers traveling in, out and through New York City.”
These trains operate daily and travel through the beautiful Hudson Valley on its way to or from unique locations in the Northeast. In Amtrak’s 2017 fiscal year, these trains combined for more than 2 million passengers.
This summer’s work focused on critical reconstruction of three major railroad infrastructure assets in New York City: The Empire Connection, Spuyten Duyvil Bridge and Track 19 at New York Penn Station. The total cost of the summer renewal work is estimated between $45 and $50 million, which will keep this important infrastructure in a state of good repair for Amtrak and benefit New York State with an upgraded, state-of-the art railroad. Overall, Amtrak has invested more than $100 million on its Infrastructure Renewal Program at New York Penn Station since Summer 2017. The Infrastructure Renewal Program is one element of Amtrak’s plan to modernize stations, infrastructure and equipment on the Northeast Corridor.
Image: Amtrak
