The winter round of repair work at Penn Station is slated to begin as scheduled on Friday, which means that changes are coming Monday for Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit passengers, though most of the work will be done on weekends.
Amtrak owns and maintains the tracks at Penn Station, the nation’s busiest rail hub, and Phase II of its infrastructure renewal work is a continuation of its two-month “summer of hell” work that concluded in September.
This round is expected to end May 28 and will focus on Tracks 15 and 18. Work includes concrete demolition, rail renewal and replacing three turnouts that direct Amtrak and LIRR trains heading east and to Sunnyside Yard.
Here’s some of what commuters can expect:
LIRR
Five of the LIRR’s 98 morning rush-hour trains to Penn Station will be rerouted, as will three of the 86 evening rush-hour trains from the station.
Five trains will have extra cars for added capacity, and there will be five additional trains before and after both rush hours.
Though 5 percent of service will be affected by this winter work, as opposed to the 20 percent affected by the summer repairs, there are several changes on the LIRR’s Babylon, Far Rockaway, Hempstead, Long Beach, Port Jefferson, Port Washington and Ronkonkoma branches. For specifics, visit mta.info.
NJ Transit
Five trains a day on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) and North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) will be impacted due to the work, two in the morning peak and three in the evening.
The 6:11 a.m. eastbound NJCL train 3216 from Long Branch will now leave at 6:23 a.m. and divert to Hoboken as train 2604. The 7:06 a.m. eastbound NEC train 3122 from New Brunswick will terminate at Newark Penn Station and be renumbered as train 5822.
The 5:25 p.m. NJCL train 3267 from PSNY will originate from Hoboken at 5:22 p.m. as train 2609. NEC train 3171 departing PSNY at 5:43 p.m. will originate at Newark Penn Station at 6:03 p.m. as train 5869. The 6:51 p.m. NCJL train 3441 from PSNY will be canceled.
Amtrak
Northeast Regional trains 110 from Washington, D.C. to PSNY and 127 from PSNY to Washington are canceled.
Northbound Keystone train 640 will terminate at Newark Penn Station, while Keystone train 643 will originate at Newark Penn Station.
Southbound train 173 will stop at Newark Liberty Airport, while southbound trains 129, 193 and 653 will have earlier departures.
