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Dive brief:
- Amtrak expects to reopen Line 2 of the East River Tunnel in New York City in August, about a month later than originally planned, Laura Mason, Amtrak’s executive vice president, said during a June progress update meeting.
- During the catenary installation, construction crews found that more than half of the 203 roof locations had gaps. That required engineering changes before crews could mount the supporting hardware, Mason said.
- The “tunnel remains safe” and Amtrak “is not concerned about structural integrity,” Mason said. He added that the overall rehabilitation project is still on track for completion in late 2027, according to Amtrak.
Diving knowledge:
Construction began last year in the $1.6 billion East River Tunnel Projecta critical link in the Northeast Corridor, the busiest passenger rail line in the country.
The project aims to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy and update the century-old structure for the next 100 years, according to Amtrak. Four tubes make up the tunnel, two of which require major repairs.
Amtrak now expects to reopen the first tunnel, Line 2, in August, about a year after extensive demolition and construction. The second tunnel, Line 1, will close later this year for reconstruction, Mason said.
“We intend to begin Line 1 shutdown this fall, immediately following infrastructure hardening, and are working with our partners to update the track work schedule to ensure we can complete the hardening work before Line 1 shutdown begins,” Mason said during the June 17 meeting. “The shutdown of Line 1 is currently still planned for 13 months, although we will take the lessons learned from Line 2 and incorporate them into Line 1 and see if we can make any timetable adjustments.”
One of the biggest takeaways from the construction of the first outage was the decision to completely close each tunnel tube instead of relying on overnight and weekend construction windows, Mason added.
“Ultimately, we determined that a contractor-controlled continuous outage is the most cost-effective, efficient and safe method of delivering the program,” Mason said. “Relying on night and weekend outages would have significantly increased the cost and stretched the schedule.”
Mason said the continuous outage allowed crews to rebuild drainage systems and repair tunnel lining without having to worry about repeatedly installing and removing temporary rail systems between work windows. By shutting down the entire line, contractors could work on repairs with uninterrupted access, he said.
Crews unpacked a second lesson after the tunnel’s existing bank walls were demolished, Mason added. Once crews tore down the walls, they discovered collapsed cable conduits with little spare capacity and clogged drainage systems that weren’t in use.
According to Amtrak, these discoveries reinforced the need for a comprehensive rebuild rather than surface-level repairs.
“Going through this disruption, I think they’ve reassured us that we made the right decision,” Mason said. “The drainage system was not accessible without this demolition of the bank wall, which means we would never have been able to fix it if we hadn’t done the demo.”
To fix the problem, the team reduced the hydrostatic pressure in the tunnel lining. This greatly reduced water intrusion, Mason said.
“Definitely one of the lessons learned that we’ll take from the Line 1 outage is how to resequence the work to get that part done sooner,” Mason said. “How do we address that drainage and hopefully reduce the number of leaks that we have to pursue.”
