Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chairman Janno Lieber’s recent announcement concerning significant service improvements upon the initiation of LIRR East Side Access service to Grand Central Terminal, promised to start in December 2022, was less than candid.

Only MTA Vice President Jelyan Handler was honest when he said “upon completion of East Side Access, a significant number of trains will be removed from Penn Station.” The LIRR has promised to increase the number of Manhattan-bound peak AM trains from 113 to 159 and Long Island-bound peak PM trains from 98 to 158.

What they omitted is that there will continue to be no room to run additional trains into or out of Penn Station during rush hours via the East River tunnels with connections to Long Island. This has been the case for decades. Three of four tunnels running inbound mornings and outbound evening rush hours have tight spacing between trains. One tunnel is shared by the LIRR, NJ Transit and Amtrak for reverse train movements with equally tight spacing during rush hours.

There is no platform capacity at Penn Station to accommodate additional trains during rush hour. Penn Station operates at 100 percent capacity. If one of the four tunnels is temporarily out of service, the result is numerous delays and cancellation of trains. Amtrak plans on removing one tunnel from service at a time. This will start in 2025 for major repairs.

Work to bring all four East River tunnels back to a state of good repair will take three to four years. The LIRR will have to cancel and combine numerous trains to and from Penn Station during this time while Amtrak performs major reconstruction. When the MTA and LIRR give Penn Station-bound commuters added service one year, they will take away another year. So much for truth in advertising.

Larry Penner

Great Neck
(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office.