State Sen. Elaine Phillips (R-Flower Hill) was the lead sponsor of a bill to withhold state funding from Amtrak to compensate Long Island commuters who are faced with eroding service through Penn Station, which the federal agency operates.
The Senate’s proposal would authorize the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority to stop payments until Dec. 31 or until Penn Station’s on-time performance reaches 95 percent for a month.
We believe the bill, which was approved by the state Senate last week 55-6 but has not been take up by the state Assembly, helps shine a spotlight on the ongoing service problems that have snarled traffic up and down the East Coast and disrupted the lives of tens of thousands Long Island commuters.
But we don’t believe the bill offers an answer.
Still, we understand the reason behind the legislation.
As Phillips said: “Poor maintenance and crumbling infrastructure at Penn Station are causing massive delays, cancellations and service disruptions that make commuting a living hell for Long Islanders.”
Of this, there can be no dispute.
And, at least in the short term, this is a bad situation that will get worse.
Officials say the Long Island Rail Road faces a 25 percent reduction in service this summer while Amtrak makes repairs to four tracks.
Showing at least some contact with reality, Amtrak has acknowledged problems at Penn Station but said cutting off funding would not be the answer.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has sent a letter to President Trump asking for federal help that would include funding for transportation alternatives, such as increased bus service while repairs at Penn Station are completed.
State Congressional delegation members issued a joint statement supporting Cuomo’s call.
Hey, call us cockeyed optimists but we remain hopeful that Trump will recognize the importance of correcting a problem that has disrupted rail travel up and down the entire East Coast.
On the other hand, we have seen little in Trump’s budget or his policies to believe that has much chance of happening. And we certainly wouldn’t want legislators to agree to pay for the wall along the Mexican border in exchange for the help — something that we don’t rule out as a Trump response.
More likely perhaps and a better solution is for a private operator to take over operations at Penn Station from government-funded Amtrak. This is a proposal supported by both Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and many other public officials.
Amtrak currently manages Penn Station and its approaches — despite only hosting 8 percent of that station’s commuters each day. By comparison, those who ride the LIRR account for 51 percent of the commuters who pass through Penn Station.
The LIRR, MTA and New Jersey Transit each pay rent every year for their use of Penn Station.
Amtrak did recently take a step in the right direction by contracting out the management of the station’s concourses. This is based on the theory that the less that Amtrak has to do with Penn Station the better.
Beyond a private operator taking over operation of Penn Station is the proposed $23 billion Gateway project to build a new tunnel to New Jersey, add tracks and expand Penn Station.
Penn’s Station current infrastructure was built more than 100 years ago and was never intended to handle a daily flow of 600,000 passengers and 1,300 trains that is expected to grow in the future.
John D. Porcari, the interim executive director of the Gateway Program Development Corporation, a nonprofit overseeing the new tunnel, said in an interview with The New York Times that the project would improve reliability at Penn Station and reduce the kind of inconveniences commuters are currently enduring.
Christie canceled a similar plan to build a new tunnel in 2010. It was scheduled to open next year.
At the time, the Obama Administration was willing to provide needed federal funding.
While that funding is still needed it seems increasingly unlikely that the Trump Administration will provide it.
In the meantime, it may be a long, hot summer for commuters in which legislative theater rather than long-term solutions are the best we can hope for.
