Hurricane Sandy

Judging from some the pics I saw on the MTA web site Id say it got wet, but generally speaking when the bridge is not in use they swing it open. Bridge wont matter until Metro North starts running trains on the Hudson again.

The water over battery park was 4-6 feet. There's no way you can prepare for that. South ferry, whitehall and bowling green all got water in them.

I think given the unknowns amtrak did a very good of of protecting equipment and physical plant.

Jersey_Mike wrote:That looks like it was coming in through one of the emergency exit shafts which would be inside the floodgates.

Since there are tree branches blowing in the wind and rain in the lower right, this must be looking West from Long Island City in Queens into the East River tubes, Line 2

From http://www.mta.info/status/3, about tracks that Amtrak also uses:

Damage on the New Haven Line between Stamford and New Haven remains significant. There is significant damage on 2 of the four tracks because of the track of the storm. Numerous trees have to be removed and catenary and signal wire has to be rehung all along the route. All the moveable bridges had been submerged during the storm; they must be fully inspected and repairs made. Additionally, there is significant track damage in the area of Fairfield.

And from http://www.mta.info/status/2:

Flooding from the extreme high-tides and the storm surge from the Hudson River flooded the LIRR’s West Side Train Storage Yard in Manhattan. Prior to the storm, the LIRR removed about 300 train cars from the yard before deploying a specially-designed water dam between the West Side Yard and the tracks leading to Penn Station to help prevent Hudson River flood waters from reaching Penn Station tracks and the East River Tunnels. The dam served its purpose, however the storm surge was so great that it over-rode the dam and flooded Amtrak’s North River tunnels at that location.

Amtrak update, press release for November 1 services (quoted in full for posterity, since Amtrak doesn't seem to archive them):

AMTRAK SERVICE RESTORATION PLAN FOR NOVEMBER 1
Modified Northeast Regional service between Boston and New Haven, Conn.; and between Newark, N.J., and points south; more overnight train service restoration; New York City service planning underway for Friday, Nov. 2

October 31, 2012
4:15 p.m. ET

Amtrak will provide modified Northeast Regional service between Boston and New Haven, Conn., and between Newark, N.J., and points south, on Thursday, November 1. Amtrak will also operate Shuttle service trains between Springfield, Mass., and New Haven, Keystone Service trains between Harrisburg, Penn., and Philadelphia, and Downeaster service trains between Boston and Portland, Maine, along with additional overnight services to and from the Northeast.

Amtrak is continuing to remove water from tunnels in order to make repairs to track, signal and power systems under the Hudson and East rivers and to restore service to and from Penn Station in New York City. Amtrak is planning to operate modified service to and from New York City on Friday, November 2, with schedules to be announced on Thursday, November 1.

In the meantime, there will be no Northeast Regional service between Newark and New Haven and no Acela Express service for the length of the Northeast Corridor on Thursday, November 1.

Other service plans, full and partial service, for Thursday, November1:

Crescent (Trains 19 & 20) will operate only between Washington D.C. and New Orleans
Capitol Limited (Train 30), will operate normally Chicago-Washington, D.C.
Pennsylvanian (Trains 42 & 43), will operate only between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia
Cardinal (Train 50) will operate only between Chicago and Indianapolis
Auto Train (Trains 52 & 53), will operate normally Lorton, Va.-Sanford, Fla.
Maple Leaf (Trains 63 & 64) will operate only between Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Albany-Rensselaer
Carolinian (Trains 79 & 80) will operate only between Philadelphia and Charlotte
Silver Star (Trains 91 & 92) will only operate between Miami and Jacksonville, Fla.
Silver Meteor (Trains 97 & 98) will operate between Washington D.C. and Miami
Lake Shore Limited (Trains 448 & 449) will operate normally between Chicago and Boston, with no (Trains 48 & 49) service to points south of Albany-Rensselaer

Canceled on Thursday, November 1, is the Empire Service between New York City and Buffalo/Niagara Falls, the Adirondack (Trains 68 & 69) to and from Montreal, Québec, Canada, and the Ethan Allen Express (Trains 290 & 291) to and from Rutland, Vt., due to track damage south of Albany-Rensselaer, N.Y.

The following services are also canceled for Thursday, November 1:

Capitol Limited (Train 29), Washington-Chicago
Vermonter (Trains 55 & 56), St. Albans, Vt.-Washington, D.C.
Palmetto (Trains 89 & 90), New York-Savannah, including connecting Amtrak Thruway Bus Service

Customers are encouraged to monitor Amtrak.com/alerts and those Northeast Corridor passengers on Acela Express, Northeast Regional or Keystone Service trains can follow @AmtrakNEC on Twitter to be notified when updates are posted on Amtrak.com. Amtrak will also be providing updates on its Facebook.com/Amtrak and Twitter.com/Amtrak pages.

Amtrak will update this statement by Thursday evening, November 1.

lirr42 wrote: I highly doubt Metro-North is going to win the race to restoration. Check some of the photos in the Metro-North forum. While the East Side might've gotten lucky, Westchster/Dutchess/Putnam sure did not.

Well, for the gamblers, here's the result: Metro-North was the first to restore -- Lower Harlem Line only, though.

LIRR had Brooklyn-Jamaica service up at almost the same time. Nothing else.

Well, it looks like Amtrak will have some service back to NYP on Friday. Given the monumental problems facing NJT (operations center flooded, many locos and coaches in standing water, various lines damaged), does anyone think that Amtrak might pick up some of the NJT stops on the NEC for a while?

Station Aficionado wrote:Well, it looks like Amtrak will have some service back to NYP on Friday. Given the monumental problems facing NJT (operations center flooded, many locos and coaches in standing water, various lines damaged), does anyone think that Amtrak might pick up some of the NJT stops on the NEC for a while?

Shouldn't Amtrak be able to handle the operations of transit trains on the corridor? Its their dispatching and yard. At least in some limited capacity

"Additionally, it is not a designated facility, so you can turn and burn"

What does a designated facility mean?

You know that video doesn't look so bad, I was envisioning a fully flooded tube. That should not take an indefinite amount of time to fix.

T2

I think he means it's not a full service yard and crew base,just a temporary end point for now.
Change ends,load,and GO.

Backshophoss wrote:I think he means it's not a full service yard and crew base,just a temporary end point for now.
Change ends,load,and GO.

It seems like with Amtrak not able to access the equipment at Sunnyside, what horses they have are being ridden hard and put away wet.

From http://www.mta.info/:

Limited LIRR Service between Jamaica & Penn Station has began early Wednesday evening with hourly service between Jamaica Station and Penn Station. Penn Station reopened to customers Wednesday night at 6:45 p.m.

Seems like Amtrak's Sunnyside Yard is no longer isolated.

That would depend on how much water Amtrak has to pump out of the North River Tubes,
and repairs to the signal system.