Amtrak: Sandy tunnel repairs may begin in 2025, cost $1B

Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), after being briefed by Amtrak officials on the plan, called the developments “extremely troubling.” He said waiting more than a dozen years after Sandy to repair the damage could significantly worsen LIRR service disruptions caused by problems in the tunnels — disruptions that have increased 72 percent since the storm, according to a state comptroller’s report in April.

Problems with the East River tunnels were responsible for nearly one-fifth of all the LIRR’s increase in delays, cancellations, and terminations since 2011, the report said.

“Being stuck in a tunnel is not something that we can take lightly. And unfortunately, that’s what riders are going to be increasingly looking at,” said Kaminsky, who intends to call for a public hearing to discuss the tunnel-repair project. “It is not an acceptable plan.”

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