Amtrak CEO promises Penn Station back to normal after Labor Day
WASHINGTON — The head of Amtrak said Wednesday that extraordinary planning led to few surprises for travelers coping with repairs at New York’s Penn Station. And he promised rail disruptions would end by Labor Day even if repairs have to be completed on weekends after then.
“This is a big outage,” Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman told the National Press Club. “I think the public understands if you explain it and you don’t use rhetoric that might be viewed as inflammatory that these kinds of projects are essential.”
The $40 million project will replace tracks at the heart of the busiest rail station in the country, which has 650,000 commuter and long-distance passengers daily.
The goal is to prevent unexpected breakdowns and delays, such as derailments July 6, April 3 and March 24.
To accommodate the work, rail service was reduced substantially. Amtrak cut Northeast Regional service between Washington and New York from six round-trips to three, while keeping full Acela service.
New Jersey Transit is sending commuters across the Hudson River on buses, PATH trains and ferries. The Long Island Rail Road is taking its riders to subways. And Amtrak trains from Albany are heading to Grand Central Station instead.
“Knock on wood — we’re two days in — but by and large the commuters, they’ve figured it out,” Moorman said. “What commuters hate is when you have an unplanned disruption.”
If work runs behind schedule, he said Amtrak could “button up” construction and complete it on weekends after Sept. 1.
"Labor Day is it," he said.
Amtrak has long been contentious. The railroad had $230 million in operating losses last year, Moorman said. President Trump proposed in his budget to end Amtrak’s long-distance service, which isn’t as successful as the popular Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston.
Long-distance routes generate about $500 million a year and cost about the same in operating expenses — before allocating costs from the rest of the company, Moorman said.
But if the railroad lost the long-distance revenue, much of the costs would remain and Congress would have to subsidize more, he said.
Moorman predicted lawmakers would continue to support long-distance routes because lawmakers with states and districts served by Amtrak like it.
“It’s what defines our company to most of the nation,” Moorman said. “It’s also the political glue that holds us together.”
Amtrak carries 70% of the commercial passengers between Washington and New York, Moorman said. The Northeast Corridor trains carry 38% of Amtrak’s riders and generate 55% of the revenue, he said.
But asked about ticket prices climbing toward airfares, Moorman said trains don’t have cramped middle seats like plane.
“How many people really enjoy being at LaGuardia airport?” Moorman asked.
Amtrak is developing an economy class, with narrower space between rows, he said.
“We are looking at doing some creative things,” Moorman said. “There’ll be some other things that don’t make it quite as comfortable.”