LIRR Commuter Council Worries That Penn Station Repairs Will Make Bad Commute Worse
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It is going to be a rough summer for commuters at Penn Station, and some new details have been released about what commuters will be up against.
As WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported Sunday, the first extended service reduction will start July 7 – after the Fourth of July holiday that many commuters take off.
Amtrak chief executive officer Charles "Wick" Moorman explained the rationale.
"Our people want to take those holidays too," he said.
Mark Epstein of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council is troubled by the fact that this is only for track work.
"What the daily headache for riders is, is usually signal problems, and that's not even, from what I hear, on the table to fix," Epstein said.
He expects a bad commute will get worse.
Penn Station has been plagued with delays, cancellations, derailments and other problems on a near-regular basis in recent months.
Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Christie calling for a private operator to take over the terminal.