Correspondence - Preliminary Observations on the New York Penn Station Infrastructure Renewal Program

Two derailments this spring at New York Penn Station (Penn Station) led to significant delays for Amtrak (the company) passengers and rail commuters across the New York City region, raising questions about the aging infrastructure at the nation's busiest train
station. In response, the company launched the New York Penn Station Infrastructure Renewal Program (Renewal Program), which company documents describe as compressing several years of planned construction work into about a one-year period. The Renewal Program began in May 2017 and is projected to finish in June 2018. This work period combines several months of planned weekend track outages-including two months of intensive continuous track outages-to renew important assets in various locations throughout the station. The continuous outage work is scheduled to take place from July 7 through September 4 this year. 1 Much of the initial Renewal Program work focuses on "A" Interlocking-a critical set of tracks and switches that serves as a sorting mechanism on the west side of the station to route trains entering from the Hudson River tunnels.