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Amtrak to reroute 6 trains to Grand Central during Penn Station repairs – Metro US

Amtrak to reroute 6 trains to Grand Central during Penn Station repairs

Amtrak will reroute six trains to Grand Central during its repair work at Penn Station.

In order to offset the “summer of hell” repair work set to begin at Penn Station next week, Amtrak announced it will reroute some trains to Grand Central Terminal.

Six Empire Service trains — 230, 233, 235, 236, 239 and 242 — will stop at Grand Central instead of Penn Station from July 10 to Sept. 1, Amtrak said on its website. Empire Service runs between New York City, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

The 230, 236 and 242 trains will operate weekdays from Albany and terminate at Grand Central, while 233, 235 and 239 will originate at Grand Central during the week. Commuters should visit Amtrak.com or its mobile app for the complete schedule information, as Amtrak employees will not be available at Grand Central, the company said. Additionally, customers will need to make their own arrangements to travel between either station, which are a little more than a mile apart. 

The rerouting is due to Amtrak closing several of Penn Station’s 21 tracks at a clip to repair aged and neglected rail infrastructure used by New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road into the transit hub on the Amtrak-owned tracks.

The beleaguered station is the busiest rail terminal in the country, serving more than 650,000 commuters each day via more than 1,300 weekday trains.

The work comes on the heels of two recent derailments and a train breakdown, all of which caused chaos for commuters who arrive and depart from Penn Station.

When Amtrak initially announced the two-month work schedule, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it would create a “summer of hell” for commuters at the station.

New Jersey Transit announced its service changes last month, and the LIRR will see a 20 percent reduction in its evening rush hour service while 12 trains have been either canceled or rerouted to Jamaica Station in Queens or Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn during the morning commute.