C’mon & fix it, ‘genius!’
GOV. CUOMO is seeking outside help to end the chaos at Penn Station and in the city’s aging subway system.
The governor Tuesday announced a 14-person panel to generate a blueprint for accelerating repairs and taking Penn Station away from its owner, Amtrak.
For the subway, he launched a $3 million “genius” award to get the best and brightest minds to figure out how to modernize the subway system and run more trains through it.
“At the heart of all of it is Penn Station,” Cuomo said at the CUNY Graduate Center.
“When it struggles, it puts an additional burden on the other systems. In truth, NJ Transit, PATH, the MTA, (and) Long Island Rail Road are already stretched to their limits and can’t absorb any additional pressure from the dysfunction at Penn.”
After months of painful service disruptions, Amtrak on July 7 will initiate a six-week repair plan that will cut service by 20% during rush hours. The subway, meanwhile, has become considerably less reliable in recent years.
Cuomo tried to dodge his responsibility over the state’s transportation network last week, but he is now embracing the need to fix these crucial pieces of infrastructure.
“It will be a summer of hell for commuters,” Cuomo said.
The Penn Station panel includes former and current members of Congress, real estate bigs and former MTA chief Joe Lhota. In the short term, the panel will come up with new ways for Penn Station commuters to move in and out of Manhattan.
For the future, the panel will figure out how to best manage Penn Station without Amtrak’s control. Cuomo suggested that the state, Port Authority or a private company take over Penn.
The governor also wants a few smart people to come up with ways to modernize the subway system. Cuomo is offering $1 million for the best ideas in three areas: updating the signaling system, improving the maintenance of the MTA’s subway fleet and bringing Wi-Fi to the entire system, tunnels and all.
Mayor de Blasio, who’s been trading barbs with Cuomo over the state of transit in the city, said he was withholding judgment since he hadn’t seen the plan.