October 16, 2024
By Tyler A. McNeil
There’s typically not much political common ground between U.S. Rep Elise Stefanik, R-Saratoga, and Albany-area Assembly Democrats.
Here’s a recent commonality: they’re both uneasy with Amtrak’s plans to cut several daily round trips between the Capital Region and New York City as a result of downstate tunnel repairs.
The Nov. 11 change is expected to result in hour-plus delays, according to the Empire State Passengers Association.
“I am calling on Amtrak to work towards a solution that avoids disrupting the lives of thousands of New Yorkers and to our region,” Stefanik said in a statement.
Three lines — an early morning, mid-day and evening route — are set to be eliminated at the Albany-Rensselaer Rail Station, the eighth-busiest station in the Amtrak system.
Assembly members John McDonald, D-Cohoes, and Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday, urging officials to mitigate “significant service reductions for the thousands of our constituents and riders who depend on reliable and affordable service” at the Albany area station.
The proposal will amount to a 23% reduction in service frequency in the Hudson Valley. Customers in Rhinebeck could expect higher ticket costs as a result of fewer available seats.
The forthcoming schedule has prompted concerns from both Greene County Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger and Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murrell, who expects a short-term “negative impact.”
Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson is looking for extra help to mitigate what he expects will nigh become problematic.
“It’s definitely disappointing and it’s something I’ll definitely be contacting our higher elected officials about,” Johnson said. “A lot of our residents are commuters that use Amtrak, and it’s something we’re looking into to try and do something about it.”
ESPA is pushing for elected officials to encourage Amtrak to potentially pursue some of the group’s alternatives, like adding an extra car to the remaining trains to handle a larger passenger load or changing layover locations.
With the rehabilitation of four East River tunnels having long been in the pipeline, ESPA Executive Director Steven Strauss said that Amtrak had plenty of time to ease plans for travelers.
“These proposals can be mitigated,” Strauss said. “They just didn’t want to go to the trouble to do that for reasons that were not discussed with us.”
Scheduling changes could take about two months to put into effect, according to Strauss.
Tunnel repairs are expected to take about three years. The provide is set out to fix damages that were created by Superstorm Sandy in 2011.
“We have been communicating and collaborating with our partners at NYSDOT on these service changes and mutually agreed to this new schedule, which preserves 80% of the line’s service while this major infrastructure asset receives its much-needed and overdue upgrade as part of a $1.6 billion investment in New York State,” said Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams in a statement.
The spokesperson also thanked Fahy and McDonald’s “commitment to their constituents and passenger rail.”
