Up to 85 feet below midtown Manhattan and the East River, a joint venture between Skanska USA Civil and EJ Electric Installation Co. is wrapping up the first phase of the $1.6 billion East River Tunnel Rehabilitation (ERT) program, which is restoring and upgrading all four of the 116-year-old, nearly 4,000-foot sands damaged by sand tubes. 2012. The rehabilitation is one of Amtrak’s “New Era” projects, driven in large part by the Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act.
The tunnels connect New York City with destinations to the east and are used by about 450 Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and NJ TRANSIT trains a day.
The project consists of demolishing the existing tunnel systems down to the concrete linings, repairing the tunnel lining; reconstruction of the bank walls in a modern, high-low configuration with new cable ducts; the change from ballasted track to a modern system of direct fixing track; installation of new fire and smoke detection systems; and replacing signals, traction power, standpipe and drainage systems, according to Amtrak’s project website.
Last year, the decommissioning of Line 2 included the removal of approximately 24,000 linear feet of track, 12,000 linear feet of electrified third rail, 8,000 railroad ties and 8,000 m3 of ballast. Crews then demolished about 24,000 linear feet of bank wall using robotic demolition machines at six locations, supported by hydraulic rock breakers.
Crews tearing down the old tunnel bank walls in October 2025. Photo by Jeff Rubenstone/ENREarlier this year, the team placed more than 16,000 linear feet of new bench wall over 41 days. “The bench wall and the track are finished and in good condition [work] it’s done,” says Youssef Dehne, Amtrak project manager. “In terms of installing systems, we’re generally about 80 percent complete.”
In its roughly $637 million contract, the joint venture proposed adding a 60-foot-deep access shaft at 32nd Street in Manhattan in addition to the Queens tunnel access, says Skanska project executive Lek Boonpektrakul. “On the west side of the tunnel near Penn Station, there was no way to get to the construction site,” he notes. “We needed another point of entry, especially for emergencies.”
Even with the extra access, “it was a logistical challenge,” says Dehne. “Delivery of materials or tools, inside and outside, cost a lot.”
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The team used the 32nd Street shaft to install two temporary ventilation fans at the bottom, which supplied air and eliminated the need for ductwork in the tunnel ceiling. Boonspectrakul adds This avoided conflicts with permanent systems and helped keep the construction schedule on track.
“At the level of the western portal track, where we built the 32nd Street shaft, we installed a 20-foot high barricade to keep us separated from the live track (Line 1),” he adds. “Early in the project, we used the S3 cable relocation disruptions as opportunities to build the barricade. This required a lot of coordination from design to construction, and we relied heavily on Amtrak’s support to complete the shaft.”
Amtrak, in turn, was supported by several city agencies. “We explained the need for the axis and the city agencies approved the permits faster than I would have thought,” says Dehne. In addition, Amtrak worked with the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit, as well as local players like a nearby hospital, adds Derick Hallahan, Amtrak’s assistant vice president for major programs, tunnels and systems.
Before the team took Line 2 out of service, it had to reroute a portion of the power cables located on the adjacent Line 2, says Patricia Mohiuddin, EJ Electric’s vice president and division manager. “Several outages were required over the weekends to clear a path to lay a new cable and splice it to the existing feed in the middle of the tunnel,” he says. “But the condition of the wire we planned to splice deteriorated, so we had to run an additional 400-foot section into the next chamber to reach the existing wire.” Good repair needs increased from the original estimated 200 feet to about 3,000 feet, but the equipment is still on schedule and on budget.
The joint venture also worked with Amtrak to improve safety by extending the project boundaries at the east end by several hundred feet to eliminate any risk of contact with overhead lines, he adds. “On the west side, we built a box around the catenary cables. These steps made the work area safer and more efficient.”
The team divided the tunnel into three sections and used color-coded maps to track which operations would be in which section during each shift to maximize production. “As conditions changed, coordination changed,” says Mohiuddin. “Every day the team meets and coordinates upcoming shifts in advance.”
Boonpektrakul notes that the concrete wall near the tunnel portals at each end was in better shape than at the midpoint, making demolition difficult. While the original tunnel design incorporated two “tall” bench walls, the rehabilitated tunnels will feature a “tall” bench wall on one side of the tunnel and a “low” bench wall on the other side, according to Amtrak. The new “low” bank wall will provide better access under the trains in the event of a delay or maintenance issue that needs to be resolved under the train.
“Beyond the standard tunnel lighting, there are new CCTV cameras, blue light phones, loudspeakers, radio systems, liner heat detection, very early smoke detectors and an emergency paging system,” says Mohiuddin.
Line 2 is scheduled to come back online this summer, and crews will begin work on the planned 13-month rehabilitation of Line 1 in the fall. “We have a little less scope of work at Line,” says Dehne. “Line 2 is about 60% of the total reach.”
Although the components of the work are basically the same, “We can use what we learned in Phase 1 to make the tunnel safer and improve logistics,” says Boonpektrakul. “For example, the team will use different demolition equipment. We will also study the current condition of the tunnel and look for any problems early in Phase 2.”
