Moynihan Train Hall to open Jan. 1

A new Amtrak facility at New York Penn Station is expected to open on Jan. 1.

The opening of the Moynihan Train Hall will complete a three-year $1.6 billion project that will double the size of Penn Station.

The train hall is located across 8^th Avenue from the existing Penn Station inside the James A. Farley Post Office Building.

Amtrak has posted on YouTube.com an animated “fly through” video of the train hall.

A signature feature of the train hall is a 92-foot-high glass skylight over an atrium.

Other features include a new reserved customer waiting room, free WiFi service throughout the hall, Red Cap service, and a new Metropolitan Lounge including increased food and beverage offerings.

The train hall is closed between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. but offers full Amtrak services between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Penn Station is open 24 hours a day. Tracks 1-4 will be accessible only from Penn Station, while tracks 5-16 will be accessible from the train hall, which is named after the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Amtrak Workers Contend Jobs in Jeopardy

The union representing Amtrak food service workers believes that as many as 1,700 of its members may lose their jobs if Amtrak outsources its food service to a contractor.

Some of the union workers protested that prospect during a rally outside New York’s Penn Station this week.

Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen said Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson is “engaged in a slash-and-burn management plan.”

The approximately 100 Amtrak workers also decried Amtrak’s replacement of full-service dining aboard the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited with boxed meals, most of them served cold.

Amtrak acknowledged in a statement that it has cut 14 chef positions, but that all those affected who wanted another position with Amtrak were able to get one.

The Amtrak statement also contended that the change in meal service aboard the Lake Shore and Capitol has been well received by passengers.

New York LSL Section to Resume Service

The Lake Shore Limited will return to Penn Station in New York City on Tuesday, but the Cardinal will not be back in the Big Apple until November.

The New York section of the Lake Shore was suspended in late May due to construction on the train’s route to Penn Station.

Passengers were forced to transfer at Albany-Renssalaer, New York, and take a connecting train to New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

The Boston section continued to operate between Chicago and Boston as usual.

Also shifting back to Penn Station on Tuesday will be Amtrak’s Empire Corridor trains, including the Maple Leaf, Ethan Allen Express and Adirondack.

The construction work in New York included replacement of components of the Spuyten Duyvil swing bridge between The Bronx and Manhattan; track replacement in the Empire Tunnel; rail, crosstie and grade crossing work between the tunnel and the bridge, and work on Track 19 at Penn Station.

As for the Cardinal, an Amtrak spokesperson said it will continue to originate and terminate in Washington due to other work being done in the Northeast Corridor.

Penn Station Work Moving on Schedule

Amtrak expects the renovation of New York Penn Station and its Empire Connection to be completed on time and without major surprises.

In a briefing last week, Amtrak Chief Operating Officer Scot Naparstek said rebuilding of the Empire Connection from the west end of Penn Station to the connection west of the Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North Station is on schedule.

The project involves the Empire Tunnel, the rails between the tunnel and the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge.

The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge swing span is expected to be back in place by the week of July 30, with tweaking of the electrical and mechanical systems to take place during August.

Workers are replacing 2,500 track fasteners inside the tunnel as well as lowering the track to accommodate clearances of the new Hudson River Tunnels.

A new switch is being installed at 72nd Street and workers are replacing 15 miles of welded rail and 15,000 ties.

Surfacing of 19 miles of ballasted track will be done before the Labor Day Weekend on the largely double-track line.

The Empire Connection is used by the Chicago-New York Lake Shore Limited as well as other Empire Service trains.

At Penn Station a new upper-level handbag kiosk is being installed along with a Starbucks and a wine store kiosk.

Platform 6, which serves Tracks 11 and 12, will be taken out of service for Moynihan Station work, and will be restored next year. Other platforms are getting better lighting and new signs.

NYC Bridge Removed for Repair

The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge in New York City has been removed and towed away so that it can be repaired.

The bridge, which spans the Harlem River, lies on the route of the Lake Shore Limited, Maple Leaf and Empire Corridor service.

Removal of the bridge prompted Amtrak to suspend the New York section of the Lake Shore Limited for the summer.

Once mechanical and electrical work on the bridge is completed, it will be put back into place and reopened by Sept. 3.

The bridge rehabilitation is part of a rebuilding of the Empire Connection, which also included lowering 645 feet of the Empire Tunnel on the route.

During a meeting with reporters, Amtrak’s chief operating office, Scot Naparstek, and its chief commercial officer, Stephen Gardner, gave an update on the work, which is part of a larger project to rebuild infrastructure at New York’s Penn Station.

The two Amtrak executives said the passenger carrier is seeking replacement equipment for the 500-car Amfleet I fleet, most of which is 40 years old.

They did not give a timetable for that replacement, but indicated that it is not imminent.

Amtrak has been refurbishing the interiors of its Amfleet I cars to give them a more modern look. Those cars are used largely on eastern corridor trains with a few assigned to Midwest corridor trains.

LSL New York Section Suspension Begins May 26

The New York section of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited will be suspended between May 26 and Sept. 4.

During that time, Nos. 48 and 49 will operate only between Chicago and Boston. Passengers bound to and from New York will connect at Albany-Rensselaer with other Amtrak trains.

At the same time, Amtrak’s Empire Service trains, the Adirondack, Ethan Allen Express and the Maple Leaf will begin using Grand Central Terminal in New York.

The service changes are due to an infrastructure renewal program at New York Penn Station and the route leading to the depot from the Empire Corridor.

This includes construction in the Empire Tunnel and the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge. Workers will also be rebuilding Track 19 at Penn Station.

Work on Track 19 will occur between June 8 and July 20 during which time Amtrak will operate on a modified schedule.

Suspension of the Lake Shore Limited along with establishing Washington as the temporary eastern terminus of the Cardinal means that there will be no direct scheduled intercity rail passenger service between Chicago and New York City for the first time since the 19th century.

Amtrak Acknowledges Plans to Temporarily Suspend New York Section of Lake Shore Limited in Summer

Amtrak has acknowledged that rebuilding of the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge in New York City will result in the cancellation of the New York section of the Lake Shore Limited this summer.

The bridge joins upper Manhattan with the Bronx over the north end of the East River.

During the bridge work, Amtrak will also rehabilitate the Empire Service tunnel that connects Penn Station with the West Side Line to the bridge.

Although Scot Naparstek, Amtrak’s chief operating officer, did not say during a conference call with news media when the work will be done, he indicated that through late May Amtrak is focusing on concrete demolition, wooden tie replacement and rail renewal for Track 18 used by the Long Island Rail Road at Penn Station.

One more of the three turnouts by Interlocking “C” at the east end of the station is still being rebuilt. Work on the first two are finished as is all work on Track 15.

Workers are scheduled to begin the summer program of renovations at Penn Station beginning May 26 and wrap up by Sept. 4.

Amtrak is developing new timetables for all Empire Service trains to be operated to Grand Central Terminal during the outage.

During the project, the Lake Shore Limited will operate between Chicago and Boston with no through cars to or from Chicago and New York.

Amtrak has been testing the use of cab cars on Empire Service trains. Last year when the passenger carrier diverted trains to Grand Central it placed locomotives on both ends of the trains.

The Spuyten Duyvil bridge was damaged by Hurricane Sandy although some of its problems have been the result of normal wear and tear.

The rebuilding of the bridge involves both mechanical and electrical work that Amtrak engineering has been looking at doing for quite a while.

As for the Empire Tunnel, Amtrak plans to replace crossties, grade crossings and 8,000 feet of continuous rail, including the track between the tunnel and the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge.

Amtrak Acknowledges Changes Coming for Cardinal, Empire Service Due to Penn Station Construction

An Amtrak official has confirmed that the carrier plans to divert Empire Service trains this year to New York Grand Central Terminal during a construction project at New York Penn Station.

In a related development, Amtrak has also acknowledged it plans to temporarily cease operating the Cardinal between New York and Washington starting March 29.

The Empire Service diversion was discussed by Amtrak’s Empire District general superintendent, Kevin Chittenden, during a meeting of the Empire State Passengers Association.

Although he didn’t say when the diversion would take place, Chittenden said it would last for three months during the summer. During that time, the connecting track that Amtrak uses to move between Penn Station and Metro North tracks will be closed for maintenance.

Chittenden also indicated that Amtrak is considering used FL-9 locomotives as cab cars for trains going to and from Grand Central. However, Amtrak may also use cab cars in push-pull mode.

Amtrak diverted several Empire Service trains into Grand Central last summer, but continued to operate the Lake Shore Limited into Penn Station.

News reports have surfaced that Amtrak plans to temporarily drop the New York section of the Lake Shore while work is being done on the connection track to Penn Station.

As for the Cardinal, Amtrak said it is being terminated in Washington to relieve congestion at Penn Station.

The first eastbound train to terminate in Washington rather than run through to New York will leave Chicago on March 29. The first train to originate in Washington will depart on April 1.

Amtrak did not say how long Nos. 50 and 51 will continue to operate only between Chicago and Washington.

The Rail Passenger Association said that the advocacy group Friends of the Cardinal is preparing to enter into talks with the West Virginia Tourism Commission on support for making the Cardinal a daily service.

It currently operates tri-weekly, originating in New York on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, and originating in Chicago on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Amtrak, TSA Test Explosives Detector

A new explosives testing device is being tested by Amtrak and the Transportation Security Administration. Both said it can help detect such explosives as suicide vests.

The device is known as a stand-off explosive detection unit and it triggers an alarm if someone carrying or wearing an improvised explosive device passes it.

In a news release, TSA said the device identifies objects that block naturally occurring emissions from a person’s body.

Security forces operate the device on a laptop in a train station. The security officer will see either a green image of a person alongside the actual image of the individual, or a color-indicator bar overlay.

The tests are being carried out at New York Penn Station. One device is mounted on a tripod while the other is contained in a trunk. The equipment is mobile, which allows agencies to move it to different stations.

Similar detection devices were tested last year by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Amtrak Reportedly Will Suspend LSL New York Section During Penn Station Construction This Summer

An online report said that Amtrak plans to return FL9 locomotives to service this summer and temporarily drop the New York section of the Lake Shore Limited due to construction at New York Penn Station.

The report, which did not provide sources, said the FL9s are owned by the State of Connecticut and will be used as cab cars when some Empire Service trains begin using Grand Central Terminal.

The former New Haven locomotives are needed because for emergencies there must be an exit from a train in the Park Avenue Tunnel. Side doors cannot be used on outside tracks so passengers would need to be evacuated through the rear door

However, Amtrak’s P32AC-DMs locomotives lack a nose door. Therefore, the FL9s will be used to lead trains into Grand Central.  The trains will be turned there so that the FL9s will lead at all times.

The report said the FL9s will need to be rebuilt at the Amtrak shops in Rensselaer, New York, for cab car use.

Metro-North P32AC-DM engines are able to use the Park Avenue tunnel because they were built with nose doors.

The planned consists of Amtrak trains using Grand Central will be a cab car or non-powered F-9 leading; an unoccupied Amtrak P32AC-DM to provide traction and head-end power, and the train’s passenger cars.

During this period the Lake Shore Limited will continue to operate between Chicago and Boston.