A commuter on the Amtrak platform at Penn Station.
Photo by Dean Moses
Amtrak service in New York is severely disrupted for a second day in a row as workers try to shore up a structurally unstable parking garage above the rail tracks in Midtown Manhattan.
Service on Amtrak’s Empire Line between New York City and Albany was suspended Sunday after city officials identified structural issues at a parking garage at West 51st Street and 10th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, above the Empire Line tracks. The underground garage is connected to a 38-story apartment building called Hudsonview Terrace.
On Monday morning, Amtrak service had resumed between Albany and Croton-Harmon but remained suspended south of that down to Manhattan as Amtrak and the city’s Department of Buildings (DOB) work to shore up the garage’s stability.
Passengers were advised they could take Metro-North’s Hudson Line from Grand Central to Croton-Harmon and transfer to an Amtrak train, or vice versa, and that tickets would be cross-honored.
City inspectors were first made aware of issues at the garage following a 911 call on Friday, a spokesperson for DOB told amNewYork Metro. Engineers with DOB and Amtrak discovered holes in ramps in the garage and issued a vacate order for the structure while workers shored it up.
But it wasn’t until Sunday that workers discovered additional, and more significant, structural issues at the roof of Amtrak’s tunnel, below the garage, including cracked and deteriorated steel beams. At that point, Amtrak declared the tunnel unsafe for trains to traverse and suspended service.
“Emergency work orders were quickly issued so the parking garage owners could begin addressing the issue,” Mayor Eric Adams said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday. “We are working closely with Amtrak and other transit partners to protect public safety and maintain regular communication with riders.”
DOB says the deficiencies are contained to the parking structure…
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