Overview

• At a Monday briefing, the MTA chair accused Amtrak of withholding promised outages and failing to provide required supervisors, saying those access problems are slowing construction.
• Amtrak responded that the criticism is misinformation, asserting it has more than doubled contracted labor and granted significantly more outages than planned.
• The Penn Access program, a $3.1 billion effort to run Metro-North over the Hell Gate line to four new Bronx stations, has shifted from a 2027 launch to at least 2028, with an updated schedule expected to be discussed soon.
• MTA officials say service cannot start until Amtrak’s East River Tunnel rehabilitation is finished, and the agencies differ on repair approach, with Amtrak closing one tube at a time rather than limiting work to nights and weekends.
• In contrast, the Park Avenue Viaduct replacement marked completion of Phase One on time and on budget using design-build methods, as USDOT reviews unrelated funding that could delay other projects such as Second Avenue Subway Phase Two.