East River Tunnel Rehab Project Remains on Schedule Following First Month of Work

This week marks one month since the long-term outage began for the East River Tunnel Rehab Project. The project is advancing on schedule, and to date there have been no significant unplanned service issues in the three remaining operational tunnel tubes affecting impacted Amtrak, LIRR, and NJT customers.

As we have detailed in past project updates, over the past month Amtrak and contractor crews have completed hardening and mitigation efforts in the Line 1 tunnel and nearly completed decommissioning of existing assets and installation of temporary construction systems.

Over the past week and a half, the project team has:

• Continued installation of temporary power, lighting and communications systems in the Line 2 tunnel;
• Prepared ventilation fans and advanced lead abatement to ensure a safe working area for our crews;
• Advanced work for a new signal hut at the Queens Portal in Long Island City;
• Progressed excavation activities at the 32nd Street shaft (which includes work at street level working around utility pipes, as well as the tunnel level, pictured below);
• Began state of good repair work that will reinforce the tunnel’s structural integrity;
• And much more.

Over the coming weeks, the project team will wrap up final decommissioning activities and finish installing temporary construction systems, as well as begin removing existing track and third rail.