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U.S. NEWS Saturday 8 July 2017

Expectations low, NYC commuters brace for a ‘summer of hell’

By DAVID PORTER police shocked an unruly
Associated Press person with a stun gun,
NEW YORK (AP) — A mas- leading to a stampede
sive two-month repair proj- over fears of a shooting.
ect will launch Monday at On Thursday night, there
the country’s busiest train was another minor derail-
station, temporarily exac- ment at the station. No in-
erbating the daily commut- juries were reported.
ing struggle during what Rail commuters will suffer
New York’s governor has this summer’s overcrowd-
predicted will be a “sum- ing and reduced service
mer of hell.” with the knowledge that
But it’s only a stopgap mea- the repairs won’t add train
sure against a root problem capacity or eliminate prob-
it won’t solve: that one of lems like overhead wire
the world’s great cities in- failures in the tunnel that
creasingly seems unable cause regular delays.
to effectively transport its That won’t happen until the
workforce. completion of a $12.9 bil-
At Penn Station, crowds of lion project to build a new
commuters fuming at fre- Hudson River tunnel and
quent afternoon delays overhaul the 107-year-old
already wedge into nar- In this Friday, June 30, 2017 photo, commuters walk by a board with train information for the tunnel, damaged by 2012’s
row stairways down to the Long Island Rail Road at New York’s Penn Station. A massive two-month repair project will Superstorm Sandy.
launch Monday, July 10 at the country’s busiest train station, temporarily exacerbating the daily
tracks, all for the privilege commuting struggle during what New York’s governor has predicted will be a “summer of hell.” Amtrak officials have said
of standing in the aisles of (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) its two tubes will need to
packed trains for a 45-min- be closed for repairs within
ute ride home. 25 miles away. “I’d rather While Trump has talked of through it, and it’s the city’s the next 15 years, possibly
In the mornings, it can take have my teeth pulled out.” a $1 trillion infrastructure in- only Amtrak stop. Delays sooner. Without a new tun-
10 minutes just to climb a Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a vestment plan, it’s short on are common, and com- nel, rail service would be re-
flight of stairs to the con- Democrat, said in May that details . muters often tweet photos duced by an estimated 75
course. “it will be a summer of hell Meanwhile, the Republi- with captions that can’t be percent, from 24 trains to six
The summer’s accelerated for commuters.” Around can’s budget proposes a repeated here. during peak periods.
repair work, prompted by the same time, he wrote change that could jeopar- Amtrak owns and operates “New York City is basically
two derailments this spring, a letter to President Don- dize federal funding for a the station, as well as sur- this invention for creat-
will close some of the sta- ald Trump asking for fed- project to build a new rail rounding tracks and equip- ing human prosperity, and
tion’s 21 tracks and require eral help and appealing to tunnel under the Hudson ment. New Jersey Transit what makes it work is the
a roughly 20 percent re- Trump’s New York roots. River between New York and Long Island Rail Road access for the millions of
duction in the number of Penn Station is just one and New Jersey, seen as have used Twitter to pin people who live around
commuter trains coming in symptom of a larger illness. critical to the region’s eco- blame for delays on the the city,” said Tom Wright,
from New Jersey and Long With an aging subway sys- nomic vitality. government-owned rail- president of the Regional
Island. tem subject to a recent Penn Station is a destina- road. Plan Association, an urban
Amtrak also is reducing the state-of-emergency order tion in itself, but it is also a This spring, two minor derail- planning think tank.
number of trains it runs be- by Cuomo, and a 67-year- hub for transfers, greeting ments at the station caused “Without these tunnels,
tween New York and Wash- old bus terminal called about 600,000 passengers major headaches. without Penn Station bring-
ington and diverting some “appalling” and “function- a day with low ceilings and One, caused by aging ties ing in hundreds of thou-
trains from Albany across ally obsolete” by officials dim lighting in what is es- that allowed a track to split sands of people from the
town to Grand Central Ter- of the agency that runs it, sentially the basement of apart, closed eight tracks east and west, New York
minal. the New York area’s trans- Madison Square Garden. and disrupted service be- can’t continue to grow
“We’re all dreading it,” said portation systems embody Commuter rail lines snake tween Boston and Wash- jobs,” he said. “Without
Maura McGloin, who com- America’s inability, or un- in from New Jersey to the ington for four days. During that connectivity, I really
mutes daily from Wood- willingness, to address its west and Long Island to the a separate hourslong delay think we would see a na-
bridge, New Jersey, about aging infrastructure. east. Busy subway lines run caused by a disabled train, tional recession.”q