Amtrak Clears Water From Hudson River Tunnel; Test Train To Run Today
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - There is still no Amtrak service in or out of New York City, but the railroad is getting closer to changing that.
Water has been pumped from one of the two Amtrak tunnels under the Hudson River and repairs continue in order to operate modified service.
"The access to Penn Station is contingent upon the Hudson River tunnel's flooding situation being alleviated and we made the announcement last night that we are looking forward to having limited service using one of the tunnels by Friday," Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said. "It's not going to be the optimum service that we can offer but it will at least get some people into and out of Penn Station."
Among the procedures being followed is the operation of a test train, without public passengers, between the city and Newark.
"We're still hopeful to be able to run some limited service through the Hudson River tunnels between New Jersey and New York which suffered some fairly significant flooding due to the storm -- that will be set for tomorrow," Amtrak spokesman Cole said.
Amtrak will make an announcement later today regarding service restoration at New York City. When service resumes, it will subject to delay while repairs continue.
Reservations and ticketing for the modified service is not yet available. Passengers for the service will be asked to make reservations and/or use the eTicketing option with their computers and smartphones before traveling to Penn Station New York, 30th Street Station in Philadelphia or other Amtrak locations.
Customers are encouraged to monitor Amtrak.com/alerts and those Northeast Corridor passengers on Acela Express, Northeast Regional or Keystone Service trains can follow @AmtrakNEC on Twitter to be notified when updates are posted on Amtrak.com. Amtrak will also be providing updates on its Facebook.com/Amtrak and Twitter.com/Amtrak pages.
Passengers who have paid but choose not to travel due to this service disruption can receive a refund or a voucher for future travel. Some tickets booked online that have not yet been printed can be modified or canceled on Amtrak.com or by using the free Amtrak mobile app.
