Amtrak's East River Tunnels to Get Upgrade With Help from $86M in Sandy Funds
Some $86 million of Superstorm Sandy recovery funds will be used to improve infrastructure on Amtrak's four East River tunnels that carry more than 300,000 Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) commuters a day to and from Penn Station.
The aging single-track tunnels, which Amtrak owns and maintains, have been the source of numerous LIRR delays due to track issues, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement and at a broadcast press conference held at the Mineola LIRR station today, Nov. 18. He says he pushed Amtrak to develop the tunnel improvement program following an LIRR service disruption last August caused by a third rail malfunction in one of the tunnels.