Amtrak’s Penn Station track work looms over commuters

<p>Commuters say they're dreading Amtrak's upcoming summer track work at Penn Station, and the MTA still hasn't released a plan to minimize the impact.&nbsp;</p>

News 12 Staff

Jun 10, 2017, 2:10 AM

Updated 2,674 days ago

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Amtrak’s Penn Station track work looms over commuters
Commuters say they're dreading Amtrak's upcoming summer track work at Penn Station. 
The MTA is expected to unveil a plan to minimize the impact next week. Part of that plan is to reduce peak train service by 20 percent.
Officials held a Thursday night meeting in Wantagh and provided few answers to concerned commuters who showed up.
"The plan is being worked on," Hector Garcia, an MTA spokesman, said at the meeting. "It's not finalized. It's going to be public very soon."
NJ Transit, which will also face complications from the work, released its own plans Friday. They include ferrying some passengers across the Hudson River.
Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci, of South Huntington, is calling on the LIRR to do better. He wrote two letters to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and LIRR President Patrick Nowakowski, asking them to offer monetary relief to LIRR customers.
"It would be irresponsible of the MTA not to provide these residents with some token of compensation to redress the many obstacles faced while simply completing their daily commute," he wrote.
Commuters like Madeline Scheier, of Commack, say they doubt they'll get any kind of money back from the MTA.
"That would be wonderful," she said. "I don't think it's going to happen though."
Amtrak will start its repair work on July 7 and plans to have it completed by Labor Day.