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