Amtrak says service will be restored Thursday morning as garage repairs continue
NEW YORK -- The headaches continued Wednesday for some as Amtrak service remains suspended between New York City and Westchester.
It is all due to an unsafe parking garage that sits above train tracks in Hell's Kitchen.
Construction crews were back at it again Wednesday, repairing the damaged Icon parking garage at 524 W. 51st St. New video from the Department of Buildings shows progress being made to the unsafe building, which shut down on Friday after the property's engineer found two holes and called 911.
The train tracks are visible through one of those holes, since the garage sits above an Amtrak tunnel.
"Normally, if it's one hole, you can say, OK, it's something very particular as the one situation, but a couple of holes may speak to something that is a little bit deeper," said Michael Shenoda, assistant professor of civil engineering technology at Farmingdale State College.
Shenoda said crews likely want to make sure there's not a larger problem, a remedy to not cause further disruptions.
"Amtrak is a little bit slow in their servicing," Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
The governor is sending members of her team to expedite the repairs, saying overnight she is " ... outraged that service between Albany and New York City has been suspended for so long."
While the lengthy repairs are happening, Amtrak customers traveling to the Croton-Harmon station, which the service disruption impacts the most, are being told to go to Grand Central, where Metro-North will honor tickets.
There are also more than 100 cars still stuck inside the Hell's Kitchen garage, and they likely won't be moved until next week.
"I guess it's safety. I just wish they could get the cars out and then do all the work," Manhattan resident Brandon Duff said.
Before last year, there was no inspection program for city parking structures. But now, they have to be inspected every six years. More than 1,000 are supposed to submit their reports by the end of this year, but so far, 90% have not, including the parking garage causing the current Amtrak disruption.
When asked if thinks enough is being done to make sure these parking garages, and areas and buildings in New York are safe, Shenoda said, "Just the general age of a lot of infrastructure would indicate you probably would want to pick up on inspections a little bit more."
Amtrak service will return Thursday morning, with full service on both tracks Saturday.
"Customers can expect minor delays until both tracks are restored," Amtrak said in a statement. "We appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers who were inconvenienced by the structural issue at the non-Amtrak owned parking garage."
The Department of Buildings said the structural defects of the parking garage do not affect any of the neighborhood buildings.
