30 Years to Fix Rail Tunnels

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who had ordered the study, said Monday, "We cannot wait 30 years for the tunnels below Penn Station to be addressed." He added that this is "unacceptable, particularly when lives are at stake."

DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead issued a report in March citing narrow winding spiral staircases and crumbling benchwalls, which would be inadequate to support successful evacutation of "potentially ... thousands of passengers in event of a serious tunnel fire. Ventilation systems that cannot remove sufficient amounts of smoke or heat could further jeopardize the success of such an operation."

In his latest report to Wolf, Mead says the three railroads that use Penn Station – Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit had identified $654 million in needs with an anticipated completion date by 2014.

Wolf, who heads the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, has already said that is too long. Now this new study, indicating it may take twice as long, until 2030, is simply beyond the pale, as far as the Virginia lawmaker is concerned. He warns that "safety must always come first."

The three railroads have updated those 1997 dollars to "current year expenditures" and find that the current cost for completing the work by 2010 would come to $898 million. If not completed until 2030, the project "may carry a much higher price."

The IG report adds the money to speed up the safety improvements could come from a supplemental appropriation for 2001. Or perhaps the funding could come from a $10 billion high-speed rail bill granting Amtrak additional bonding authority for high-speed rail projects around the country. That legislation died in the 2000 session of Congress, but the Senate leadership has promised to give it priority in 2001.

The report discloses that a separate project to modernize and rebuild Penn Station by moving it across the street to the old Farley Post Office Building, slated for completion in 2005, is now in a cost overrun. It is now estimated to have grown from $768 million to $817.5 million.

Wolf has blasted the planners for pinching pennies on the safety project while putting the Farley modernization project above the tunnels on a faster track.

Amtrak has cited a tight budget as the problem. And consumer advocates at the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) have noted the modernization of the station is not funded entirely from the same sources as the tunnel safety upgrade.

"When they sent that money down from Albany [New York state government], they didn’t say 'tunnels.' They said 'Farley Building,' " NARP Assistant Director Scott Leonard told NewsMax.com.

Wolf is demanding that the safety project be completed either before or concurrent with the station upgrade.

The new study says that New York and New Jersey have worked for the railroads to develop "an emergency response protocol" to deal with tunnel fires. However, Mead adds the New York fire commissioner believes the extraordinary planning and training "may not be enough to prevent a catastrophic outcome."