By rosebell
On 23 May, the rehabilitation of New York’s East River Tunnel officially commenced.
Linking New York City to Long Island and New England, the East River Tunnel (ERT) consists of four tubes and was inaugurated in 1910 and is used by Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, and New Jersey Transit trains. As the busiest passenger rail line in the US, this tunnel is part of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC), which provides train service between Boston and Washington, DC.
While the responsibility of demolishing the existing tunnel systems down to the concrete liner will be up to Skanska-EJ ERT Joint Venture, all tunnel systems will be reconstructed and modernised. This includes spot repairs and patching the tunnel liner; reconstruction of the bench walls; conversion from traditional ballasted tracks to a direct fixation track system; state-of-the-art fire and smoke detection systems; and replacement and modernisation of signal, traction power, standpipe, and drainage systems.
With the aim of maintaining the majority of train service Amtrak plans to close one tube at a time during construction.
The scheduled date for completing work on the first tube is late next year and construction of the second tube will begin. Aslo 2028 is planned date for openning both fully restored tunnel tubes to rail services.
