PeNN aND sTiNK

Amtrak to shut 5 tracks in summer to speed fixes

IT WILL BE a cruel summer for commuters at Penn Station.

Amtrak crews will be toiling on the tracks on weekdays, when Penn Station is operating at peak capacity, to condense a multiyear weekend repair program into several months beginning in May.

That’s sure to disrupt service, though the extent has yet to be figured out, the national rail agency’s chief, Wick Moorman, said Thursday.

“The events of the past month have shown that we just have to step up our game there,” Moorman said. “We have to get in and accelerate the renewal program, which was scheduled to stretch out over another two or three years, and get that work done more quickly.”

A federal official whom Amtrak briefed said the rail agency could take up to five tracks out of service at a time, adding that knocking out more tracks could be too much of a burden on riders.

Moorman declined repeatedly to say how many tracks Amtrak crews would need to take out of service or put a price tag on the repairs, except to say that it will be in the tens of millions of dollars. The money will come from technology upgrades that Amtrak would have to push off.

By September, Amtrak hopes to move all major repair work to the weekends, sparing regular weekday commuters.

But those issues will have to be planned with officials from the LIRR and NJ Transit, Moorman said.

“Our target is the minimum number of tracks to be impacted and the minimum number of passengers into Penn Station to be impacted while getting this work done,” he said.

Travelers at Penn Station Thursday — accustomed to sudden delays and cancellations — expected tough commutes this summer.

Sheila Myers, 50, an NJ Transit rider, already had her commute to the Bronx scrambled after an April 3 derailment closed eight of Penn Station’s 21 tracks and sent trains to Hoboken Terminal.

She worried about that scenario repeating itself, saying she’d consider staying with her daughter in Brooklyn.

“That was a nuisance,” she said. “I hope they don’t take out too many tracks.”

Jeff Hazard, 52, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., felt service would be “brutal” if peak service is cut. He said he may switch to driving or hop a bus.

“The trains are packed already,” he said. “It’ll be difficult for commuters getting on the train.”