Inside look at the 3-year Amtrak East River tunnel repair project
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Amtrak is about to begin massive repairs on two of the four East River train tunnels that were heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy 12 years ago.
It's a one-at-a-time process that will take 3 years.
The worry is the delays on the Long Island Rail Road.
N.J. Burkett got a closer look at the damage that needs to be fixed.
Nine stories beneath First Avenue, water poured into East River Tunnel Number 2, where the walls are cracked and crumbling.
Engineers say it's been happening for decades and it can't go on much longer.
"The reliability of these tunnels is not going to get any better," Craig Schulz of Amtrak Director of External Affairs, said.
There are four tunnels that carry LIRR trains out of Penn Station and beneath the East River to Queens and Long Island and Amtrak trains to New Rochelle and on to New England.
The tunnels are owned by Amtrak and two of them will be shut down, stripped to the walls and rebuilt. Each tunnel, consecutively, for a total of 29 months.
Overnight, Amtrak executives and engineers took reporters into the tunnels to see, firsthand.
The worst of the damage is the damage you can't see. Saltwater that seeped into the walls from Superstorm Sandy. It's been eating away at the cement for years.
Inside the cement walls are power cables at risk of corrosion.
"The tunnels are structurally sound, but they need to be rehabilitated as soon as possible- fully rehabilitated," Shulz said.
But the shutdown will cut Penn Station's capacity by 25 percent.
The LIRR is routing a dozen trains to Grand Central and Atlantic Terminal.
But even a minor incident could have a major impact.
"We're not disagreeing that the work doesn't need to take place, but what work absolutely needs to take place?" LIRR President Rob Free said.
Governor Kathy Hochul has urged Amtrak to do the work at off-hours to avoid a complete shutdown. Engineers say it's not feasible.
"She wants you guys to come up with a Plan B. What you're saying is, there is no Plan B?" N.J. Burkett asked.
"That's the plan we've had for a number of years. And that's what we're proceeding with right now," Derick Hallahan, Amtrak VP for Major Programs, said.
The first of the two tunnels will be shut down next Friday.
The impact on rush hour service? Impossible to predict.
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