Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he and President Donald Trump had a “productive” meeting Wednesday to discuss one of the Northeast’s most pressing transportation needs: a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. While Trump made no assurances about federal funding for the project, Cuomo said, the Republican president was receptive and said he wants to find a way forward. U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly also attending the lunch meeting. “The president got it,” said Cuomo, a Democrat, noting Trump’s background in construction and development in New York City. “I think in many ways this situation is bigger than politics.” Local officials and transportation experts have warned for decades about the need for a new tunnel to carry Amtrak and commuter rail service between New York and New Jersey. The current century-old Amtrak tunnel now operates at capacity during rush hours and suffered extensive saltwater damage in 2012’s Superstorm Sandy. Amtrak officials say either of the tunnel’s two tubes could fail in the next 10 to 15 years, paralyzing train travel between Boston and Washington on what is known as the Northeast Corridor. A new tunnel, with an estimated price tag of $13 billion, would take several years to build. The two states had pledged to pay half the estimated $13 billion price tag under a deal worked out with the Obama administration. The Trump administration now says there was never any agreement. In March, Chao told a House committee that Trump was moving to block funding for the project because New York and New Jersey weren’t putting up enough of their own money. Cuomo said Trump expressed concerns about the project turning into an expensive government boondoggle — worries Cuomo said he shares. The solution, Cuomo said, is to use a new legal corporation to direct the project on behalf of the two states and the federal government. The corporation could carefully manage bids from private construction companies to ensure the project is completed on time and on budget, he said. He cited his administration’s work on other massive projects, including the new Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge over the Hudson and major renovations to LaGuardia and Kennedy airports. While they have disagreed on many of Trump’s policies since he became president, the two men struck a friendlier tone Wednesday. In an interview with The New York Post on Wednesday, Trump said he has a “good relationship” with the governor of his home state. He mentioned video footage sent by Cuomo last month that shows the state of the existing tunnel’s disrepair. “In New York, it’s a very big deal and … we’re going to look at it,” Trump said of the project. “It’s a very expensive project, as you know. Probably the world’s most expensive project.” (AP)

Residents in the Northeast dug out from as much as 2 feet of wet, heavy snow Thursday, while utilities dealt with downed trees and power lines that snarled traffic and left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the dark after two strong nor’easters — all with the possibility of another storm headed to the area. With many schools closed for a second day, forecasters tracked the possibility of another late-season snowstorm to run up the coast early next week. “The strength of it and how close it comes to the coast will make all the difference. At this point it’s too early to say,” said Jim Nodchey, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Massachusetts. “We’re just looking at a chance.” At least two deaths were blamed on the storm. Snow still was falling Thursday in places including Vermont, where storm warnings were in effect until the evening. KIDDUSH HASHEM! #Chaveirim of Rockland volunteers use SUVs and 4×4 vehicles to transport guests to 2 weddings in #Monsey tonight @chmylfflr @chaverimrockland #thundersnow #snowday A post shared by TheYeshivaWorld.com (@theyeshivaworld) on Mar 7, 2018 at 6:27pm PST More than 800,000 customers were without power in the Northeast, including some who have been without electricity since last Friday’s destructive nor’easter. Thousands of flights across the region were canceled, and traveling on the ground was treacherous. A train carrying more than 100 passengers derailed in Wilmington, Massachusetts, after a fallen tree branch got wedged in a rail switch. Nobody was hurt. Tory Mazzola, a spokesman for Keolis Commuter Services, which runs the system for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said the low-speed derailment remains under investigation. In New Hampshire, Interstate 95 in Portsmouth was closed in both directions because of downed power lines, leaving traffic at a standstill for hours. Amtrak restored modified service between New York City and Boston on Thursday after suspending it because of the storm. New York City’s Metro-North commuter railroad, which had suspended service on lines connecting the city to its northern suburbs and Connecticut because of downed trees, restored partial service Thursday. SNOW PLOW skids down street and hits two vehicles on Lemberg Street in Kiryas Joel A post shared by TheYeshivaWorld.com (@theyeshivaworld) on Mar 7, 2018 at 1:00pm PST In Wells, Maine, the Maine Diner remained open even though much of the town was without power after the storm dumped a foot-and-a-half of snow. “If people are going to lose power, then they need some place to go. We do everything we can to stay open and provide that service,” said Jim MacNeill, the restaurant’s general manager. Steve Marchillo, a finance director at the University of Connecticut’s Hartford branch, said he enjoyed the sight of heavily snow-laden trees on his way into work Thursday but they also made him nervous. “It looks cool as long as they don’t fall down on you and you don’t lose power,” he said. 😱😱😱😱😱 In #Monsey this afternoon. B"h No injuries reported A post shared by TheYeshivaWorld.com (@theyeshivaworld) on Mar 7, 2018 at 3:16pm PST The Mount Snow ski area in Dover, Vermont, received 31 inches of snow by Thursday morning with more still falling. The resort said the snowfall from the past two storms would set it up for skiing through the middle of April. Montville, New Jersey, got

A prominent New York City developer who has advised the Trump administration on infrastructure denied Tuesday that he cheered the president’s decision not to pay half of the $13 billion price tag for a new commuter rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey. Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth said in a conference call with investors that the media had “incorrectly reported” on an email he sent last year in which he appears to support an administration decision to pull the 50 percent federal funding for the Gateway project. He said he expects the tunnel will be built with “substantial federal participation.” “I believe that Gateway is far and away the most important infrastructure project in our region and one of the most critical for our nation,” Roth said. “I am also confident that the federal government and both states’ political leaders will develop an equitable cost-sharing agreement that gets the project built.” The reports in Politico and Crain’s based on Roth email to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao led to speculation he was positioning his company to benefit from the use of more private-public partnerships, as outlined in President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. Roth helped lead Trump’s infrastructure advisory council before it was disbanded in August. The email controversy began Aug. 11 with an article in the conservative Weekly Standard that suggested the Trump administration was now balking at an Obama-era proposal for the federal government to provide half the funds for Gateway, and that the deal was all but dead. Roth, noting the article, wrote Chao: “You are doing great … stick to your guns.” The email was obtained by the legal watchdog group Democracy Forward through a Freedom of Information Act request. Vornado has much to gain from a new tunnel. It would empty near some of the company’s buildings near Penn Station. It is also involves redeveloping the nearby James A. Farley Post Office into a commuter rail hall. Roth has several ties to the Trump White House. His company owns buildings with the Trump Organization, including an office tower on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and one in San Francisco. Vornado also has a nearly 50 percent stake in the office portion of 666 Fifth Avenue, a skyscraper that has been losing money ever since it was bought in 2007 for a record $1.8 billion by the Kushner Cos., the real estate developer once run by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. On Tuesday’s conference call, Roth made it clear that Vornado was ready to sell its stake in the building. In addition to the tunnel, the decades-old Gateway project envisions expanding Penn Station and adding bridges and track capacity on the New Jersey side. Amtrak, which owns the tunnels and most of the tracks along the Northeast corridor, has estimated the existing tunnel into New York could fail in 10 to 15 years due to saltwater damage. (AP)

A plan to pay for an estimated $13 billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River raises serious concerns, including that it relies on a “non-existent” agreement that would have the federal government foot half the bill, an official at the nation’s federal transportation agency wrote Friday. In a letter to New York and New Jersey officials, K. Jane Williams, the deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, wrote that a recent funding proposal by the states for the first phase of the project, estimated at $11 billion, seeks a 50 percent federal investment that is “considerably higher than much existing precedent for past ‘mega projects’” and would deplete the existing grant program. The letter also criticized the states’ reliance on a 50-50 funding agreement with the federal government dating back to the Obama administration. “We consider it unhelpful to reference a non-existent ‘agreement’ rather than directly address the responsibility for funding a local project where 9 out of 10 passengers are local transit riders,” Williams wrote. Republican President Donald Trump is expected to announce his infrastructure plan next month, and it’s not clear where the project, dubbed Gateway, fits in. The Gateway Development Corporation, the group composed of representatives of both states and Amtrak that oversees the project, said through a spokesman Friday, “there is no more urgent infrastructure project than Gateway, and posturing aside we are confident that the Trump Administration will engage with us as the President turns to infrastructure in 2018.” In future phases, the project also envisions expanding New York’s Penn Station and adding track capacity on the New Jersey side. It is seen as essential to alleviating worsening congestion and delays in the New York region and on the Boston-to-Washington corridor. Roughly 750,000 people per day ride the corridor on Amtrak and several commuter railroads that share the tracks. Amtrak, which owns the tunnels and most of the tracks along the corridor, has estimated the existing tunnel could fail in 10 to 15 years due to saltwater damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Were that to happen, the number of rush-hour trains would plummet from 24 per hour to six if one of the tunnel’s two tubes had to be closed for repairs. Under the current plan, the existing tunnel would close its two tubes for repairs once the new tunnel is built. But Williams questioned Friday why that repair work, estimated at between $1 billion and $2 billion, was left out of the states’ funding plan. Both states plan to use federal loans for the first phase of the project, but use different means to pay them back. Outgoing Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s plan calls for raising $1.9 billion by hiking rail fares by about 90 cents per cross-Hudson trip for New Jersey Transit train riders starting in 2020, with increases of $1.70 and $2.20 planned for 2028 and 2038, respectively. Christie spokesman Brian Murray said late Friday, “We are confident that, as the White House advances an infrastructure proposal this year, federal funding for the most important transportation project in the United States will be addressed.” New York plans to allocate money annually over 35 years to service a $1.75 billion loan, state budget director Robert Mujica Jr. wrote in a letter to the Department of Transportation this month. The

New York and New Jersey announced Thursday how they will pay for their share of an estimated $13 billion project to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River and other improvements, with New Jersey’s outgoing governor outlining a plan that calls for progressively steeper fare hikes for train riders in his state during the next 20 years. New Jersey’s Democratic Gov.-elect Phil Murphy, who will replace term-limited Republican Chris Christie next month, immediately took issue with the decision to raise fares. “I’d like to know whether there were alternatives that did not involve further fare hikes and if so why they were not pursued,” he said. “This is the type of deal that tells you a lot about why people are frustrated with politics. You wait until the last minute to take action, and then you settle for some deal that got cut in a back room somewhere so that one side or one politician or another gets a win without regard for the impact that it may have.” Combined with money already committed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the plans set up a framework for local funding of one-half of the cost of the tunnel and associated construction west of Penn Station in Manhattan. The federal government was to pay for the other half under an agreement negotiated under former President Barack Obama, but President Donald Trump hasn’t made the same commitment. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, both Democrats who support the project, called on the Republican president to match the states’ commitment. “It’s time for the president to commit to fully fund the vital Gateway tunnel project because it is so important to our regional and national economy,” said Schumer, from New York. “The ball — and the future of the Gateway tunnels — is in the president’s court now.” Both states will use federal loans for the project, but will use different means to pay them back. New Jersey plans to raise $1.9 billion by hiking rail fares by about 90 cents per cross-Hudson trip for New Jersey Transit train riders starting in 2020, with increases of $1.70 and $2.20 planned for 2028 and 2038, respectively. NJ Transit, the nation’s third-largest provider of bus, rail and light rail, carries roughly 100,000 rail commuters per day from New Jersey to New York either directly or via connections to other carriers. Its last fare hike came in 2015 when it raised fares by an average of 9 percent. Christie called the agreement “a pivotal milestone” in the project. New York plans to allocate money annually over 35 years to service a $1.75 billion loan, state budget director Robert Mujica Jr. wrote in a letter to the Department of Transportation on Wednesday. A spokesman for the department’s Federal Transit Administration didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. The project, called Gateway, also envisions expanding Penn Station and adding track capacity on the New Jersey side. It is seen as essential to alleviating worsening congestion and delays in the New York region and on the Boston-to-Washington corridor. Roughly 750,000 people per day ride the corridor on Amtrak and several commuter railroads that share the tracks. Amtrak, which owns the tunnels and most of the tracks along the

A fire broke out at Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan Wednesday morning. A heavy smoke condition forced the evacuations of the terminal, as power was shut off to multiple track lines – including Amtrak. It was originally believed that the fire broke out on the mezzanine level of the Graybar Building at about 9:30Am – but later appeared to have been a track fire below. No further information was immediately available. (Chaim Shapiro – YWN)

Top officials from New York and New Jersey traveled to the White House Thursday to make a pitch to President Donald Trump for a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River — considered to be one of the region’s most critical infrastructure needs. The meeting between Trump and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey also included several members of the two states’ Congressional delegations. The $13 billion tunnel project is key to plans for addressing aging infrastructure and growing congestion in the New York City area. The price tag also includes renovations for the existing, century-old rail tunnel that carries Amtrak and commuter trains from New Jersey into the city. No decisions were announced Thursday but U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, who arranged the meeting, said it went well. “We made a strong pitch,” said Schumer, D-New York, told The Associated Press. “It was a good meeting. He (Trump) said he was favorably disposed. … I am very hopeful and optimistic.” Past proposals to build a new tunnel have run into funding problems. Supporters of the project hope Trump, a Republican, agrees to honor the pledge of his predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, whose administration said it would pay for half of the work. Under that arrangement, the two states would be responsible for the other half. Cuomo said the money would be generated through user fees — paid by those who use the rail system. “We confirmed our original agreement with the previous administration whereby the Port Authority would finance 50 percent with user fees and the federal government would contribute 50 percent,” Cuomo said in a statement about Thursday’s meeting, which he called “inconclusive.” New Jersey Republican Rep. Leonard Lance described the president as “very engaged and very interested.” “The point was made to the president that this is critically important not only to the region but to the whole country,” Lance said. The tunnel is part of a larger overhaul and expansion of rail infrastructure known as the Gateway Program that has a total estimated cost of $30 billion. Trump has vowed to make infrastructure a priority, a proposal cheered by many officials from New York and New Jersey, from both political parties. On Thursday a White House official called the meeting productive and said the president remains committed to modernizing the nation’s infrastructure. Each day, 200,000 passengers use the existing, 110-year-old tunnel, which has a single track in two tubes, one for either direction. Amtrak officials have predicted that within 20 years they will have to shut down one tube for a year for repairs that would reduce the total number of trains using the tunnel from 24 to 6 per hour at peak times. That would put pressure on other commuting options while disrupting the entire Northeast Corridor, which is used by 750,000 passengers daily in eight states. (AP)

Full service has resumed on commuter rail lines into New York’s Penn Station following a two-month repair project. New Jersey Transit, Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak trains resumed normal schedules on Tuesday. Amtrak wrapped up an extensive summertime track repair project at New York’s Penn Station on Thursday. Officials had warned the project could create a bottleneck in the nation’s busiest rail hub. Predictions in the spring were dire, yet many rail riders say their commutes were surprisingly fine. Trains on NJ Transit’s Morris & Essex lines that had been diverted to Hoboken are back on their regular schedule. Discounts that had been in effect have ended. (AP)

It was billed as the “summer of hell.” Thankfully, it was more like the summer of “meh.” Amtrak wrapped up an extensive summertime track repair project at New York’s Penn Station on Thursday that officials had warned could create an infernal bottleneck in the nation’s busiest rail hub. Predictions back in the spring couldn’t have been more dire. Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told people to brace themselves for a “summer of hell.” But now that the repairs have been completed, many rail riders say their commutes have been surprisingly fine. Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the Long Island Rail Road’s on-time percentage in July was better than last year, and better than any other month to date in 2017. Normal service resumes Tuesday. (AP)

An empty New Jersey Transit train derailed early Wednesday in Manhattan’s Penn Station, causing some delays at the beginning of the morning rush hour. An Amtrak crew was moving a New Jersey Transit train out of a railyard around 5 a.m. when some cars derailed on Track 4, where repair work started earlier this summer, according to NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett. The derailed cars were cleared by 6:20 a.m. NJ Transit’s Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast, Montclair-Boonton and Midtown Direct trains initially had 20-minute delays but were back on schedule quickly. The Long Island Rail Road and city subways were not affected, according to New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A linchpin in the northeastern U.S. rail system, Penn Station, which is owned by Amtrak, is undergoing accelerated repair work to replace several thousand feet of track, switches and other aging infrastructure. The speedup was prompted by two derailments in the station during the spring that wreaked havoc on rail service between Boston and Washington, D.C. More than a half million people pass through Penn Station daily on New York City subways and trains run by Amtrak, NJ Transit and the LIRR. Before the work began, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned that commuters could be in for a “summer of hell,” but he’s since eased off that prediction. (AP)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced the start of major construction for a new light-filled train hall across from the cramped and dark Penn Station. The Democratic governor said Thursday that the planned Moynihan Train Hall was “for many years too difficult to achieve.” He said construction is underway because “New Yorkers don’t give up.” The planned transit hub in the landmark Farley Post Office building is named after U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat who championed the project and died in 2003. A concourse linking the Farley building to the existing Penn Station across the street opened in June. The $1.6 billion project is scheduled to be completed in 2020. The 255,000-square-foot (23,690-square-meter) Moynihan Train Hall will be used by Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak passengers. (AP)

It’s a question that has weighed on the minds of countless commuters, usually as they sit in a stalled train in one of the tunnels heading into the nation’s busiest train station: Why does help seem to take so long to arrive? It’s an issue that will persist long after Amtrak completes this summer’s extensive repairs (and corresponding schedule cutbacks) at Penn Station. A linchpin in the northeastern U.S.’ rail system, the station is undergoing accelerated repair work this month and next to replace several thousand feet of track, switches and other aging infrastructure. The speedup was prompted by two derailments in the station this spring that wreaked havoc on rail service between Boston and Washington, D.C. While the summer repairs are expected to greatly reduce the chances for more derailments, they won’t address another of the station’s fundamental problems: breakdowns in the cramped, 111-year-old tunnel under the Hudson River from New Jersey, and in the East River tunnel carrying trains to and from Long Island. At peak times, when 24 trains per hour move in and out of Penn Station, a disabled train in one of the Hudson River tunnel’s two tubes can lead to misery for hundreds of thousands of commuters. But significant delays can occur even if a train breaks down in the tunnel during off-peak times. “A very good rescue, and this is on an open track and at that time of day, is 45 minutes to an hour,” Steven Young, Amtrak’s deputy general manager of its New York division, said last week as he stood overlooking the station’s control center, located in a nondescript building about a block away from the station. Often, these are caused by malfunctions of overhead electrical wires — part of a system that dates to the 1930s in some places — in excessively cold or hot weather. Trains also break down on their own, as a New Jersey Transit train carrying 1,200 passengers did on the evening of April 14. That incident led to delays of up to three hours and produced a stampede at the station when delayed commuters panicked after police used a stun gun to subdue an unruly person. Eleven days later, a disabled Amtrak train in the Hudson River tunnel and, the same day, electrical problems in the East River tunnel caused widespread delays and forced some trains to be cancelled. Young described a protocol for rescuing trains from the tunnel that starts with a 15-minute period for the train’s conductor and engineer to troubleshoot the problem to see if it can be corrected. If it can’t, orders are relayed to a crew on a rescue locomotive standing by in the station. Two locomotives, one that can run on diesel power and the other on electric power, are available. Fire department and EMS personal also are called to the scene as a precaution. “If it’s hot and you lose power, you lose air conditioning; if it’s cold, you lose heat; if you lose lights, it’s dark,” Young said. “It gets people unnerved. We’ve found that whether you need them or not, people are more comfortable when they come off the train and onto the platform and the fire and EMS are standing there. They don’t mind it, so we do it.” The disabled train’s exact location

New Jersey Transit is weighing whether it can pursue disciplinary action against train engineers after a manpower shortage forced dozens of ride cancellations this week amid summerlong track work at New York’s Penn Station, an agency official told lawmakers Wednesday. NJ Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro said at a joint Assembly-Senate oversight committee that there were 40 total cancellations Sunday and Monday and that he will meet later this week with union leaders. The union contract spells out the process for discipline, Santoro said after the Democrat-led hearing. “If it’s appropriate, disciplinary action will occur consistent with the contract,” he said. It’s unclear how many of the cancellations stemmed from engineers exercising a contract provision that allows them to take two days to report for work when schedule changes are made. But vacations and the summer track work also may have been a factor, Santoro said. The head of the union said NJ Transit portrayed its workers negatively, “implying that engineers simply do not want to come to work.” “In fact, the opposite is true,” said James Brown, chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. One lawmaker in particular got heated when discussing the canceled trains. Republican state Sen. Joe Kyrillos fumed about workers, at one point asking Santoro whether it was true they were “screwing” NJ Transit customers by not working earlier this week. “That is the end product,” Santoro said. Democratic Assemblyman John McKeon said he would issue the panel’s first subpoena later this week for correspondence between Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s office and NJ Transit. He said he received 1,200 pages in response to a request, which he called “unacceptable.” Santoro said after the hearing the agency has been busy with train operations but would comply with McKeon’s request. The hearing, which also included testimony from officials at Amtrak, PATH commuter trains and the New York Waterway, came amid the second week of extensive repairs at the nation’s busiest rail station. Lawmakers and an Amtrak official said the first week of work went better than expected. “The summer from hell has not been quite as hot as expected,” Democratic state Sen. Bob Gordon said, referring to Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s comment earlier this year anticipating a “summer of hell.” Aside from the NJ Transit’s staffing issues, there was general agreement that the first week of the track work went well. Michael DeCataldo, an Amtrak vice president, said the work got off to a “promising start,” with concrete and rail ties being replaced. Amtrak owns Penn Station. This week’s cancellations came during the second week of extensive repairs at the station that already have affected train service for hundreds of thousands of commuters. (AP)

Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he’d “smack” Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for predicting a “summer of hell” as part of track repairs at the nation’s busiest rail station. Christie chided Cuomo on Monday at an unrelated event in Gladstone for predicting Amtrak work at New York’s Penn Station would be a nightmare for commuters. The first week of daytime track work wrapped up Friday. Amtrak’s chief operations officer said repairs were proceeding ahead of schedule and praised commuters for their flexibility in dealing with reduced schedules. Cuomo last week said “it very well could have been” a summer of hell but early reports were good. Christie said the same but cautioned there are weeks of work remaining. Cuomo hasn’t returned a message seeking comment. (AP)

New Jersey Transit says some trains have been canceled this week because engineers are choosing not to work under the terms of their contract amid the summer-long repair work at Penn Station. NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett says about five trains were canceled Monday on the Coast Line and Northeast Corridor and an early morning North Jersey Coast Line train was canceled Tuesday because they didn’t have crews to operate them. NJ Transit also is using buses Tuesday for the Princeton Shuttle rail service following maintenance to overhead wires. The track repairs and corresponding schedule cutbacks for commuters at New York City’s Penn Station began last week. Amtrak is replacing aging signals and several thousand feet of track over a two-month period following two derailments and other problems. (AP)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says careful planning has helped to prevent the predicted commuter gridlock that prompted him to dub this the “summer of hell.” At an event in Schenectady on Tuesday the democratic governor said “the reports are all good.” Several hundred thousand commuters on the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit are facing fewer trains during peak periods, the result of track closures in Penn Station. Amtrak on Monday started extensive repairs at the nation’s business train station following two recent derailments and other problems that spotlighted the station’s aging infrastructure. So far, there have been no major problems. The work is scheduled to last through the end of August. (AP)

A senior House lawmaker is using his chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee to try to funnel up to $900 million into New Jersey and New York to build new bridge and tunnel capacity for travel between the states. The move by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (FREE’-ling-hy-zehn) to boost the Gateway project in New York and New Jersey would largely be paid for by eliminating a popular $500 million infrastructure grant program championed by former President Barack Obama. That program funded transportation projects nationwide. New Jersey’s Frelinghuysen also would earmark $400 million in mass transit grants toward a new tunnel under the Hudson River to service Amtrak and a New Jersey commuter rail line. The move by the 12-term Republican is reminiscent of pork barrel politics of the recent past. (AP)

Los Angeles’ 2011 freeway closure, “Carmageddon,” ended up being more karma than ‘geddon. Seattle’s recent highway viaduct closure, “Viadoom” — meh. Closer to home, the predicted nightmare stemming from the long-term partial closure of the Pulaski Skyway, a heavily traveled route to New York, failed to materialize. We love apocalyptic predictions, it seems, particularly when it involves people trying to get from one place to another (and preferably when we are not those people). Which brings us to the looming “summer of hell,” the phrase coined by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to describe the two months of track repairs at New York’s Penn Station, beginning Monday, that have train riders in New Jersey and Long Island fearing the worst. Months of planning have preceded the track work as Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road have sought to prepare hundreds of thousands of daily commuters for reduced service and expected delays. Will it pay off? “It’s going to take a few days for everybody to get used to the new schedules and figure out how they’re going to commute,” said Janna Chernetz, policy director for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign New Jersey, an advocacy group. “People might try different things, but ultimately people are going to figure it out. They have to. There might be people who get more creative about it, but you have to get to work.” Things to know: ——— WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHY? Two recent derailments and other problems that caused lengthy and lasting delays up and down the Northeast Corridor this spring prompted Amtrak, which owns Penn Station, to speed up repair work that was being performed on nights and weekends and was to continue for a few more years. Primarily, the work involves replacing “several thousand feet of track,” according to Amtrak executive Scot Naparstek, and replacing switches in an area where tracks crisscross and head to different platforms. The three railroads that use the station — Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit — are reducing service at peak periods during the repairs, which are expected to last until the end of August. ——— WHO WILL BE MOST AFFECTED? On Long Island, pretty much everyone.. The LIRR is adding extra cars to some rush-hour trains by canceling three overnight trains. Commuters are being urged to change to subway service in Jamaica, Queens, and at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, near the Barclays Center arena, for the final leg into Manhattan. Both locations figure to experience overcrowding. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the LIRR, also is adding new bus and ferry service to accommodate overflow. In New Jersey, the brunt of the pain will be borne by New Jersey Transit riders from the west, in Morris and Essex counties. Rush-hour trains from those areas will be diverted to Hoboken, for transfer to New York Waterway ferries or the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s PATH trains. Both NY Waterway and PATH will offer expanded service during the repairs. ——— WHAT WILL IT ACCOMPLISH? If all goes according to plan, rail riders will benefit from increased reliability from having up-to-date equipment in and around the station. But that’s where it ends, basically. “I don’t want to fool people that we’re going to deliver 100 percent on-time

A massive two-month repair project will launch Monday at the country’s busiest train station, temporarily exacerbating the daily commuting struggle during what New York’s governor has predicted will be a “summer of hell.” But it’s only a stopgap measure against a root problem it won’t solve: that one of the world’s great cities increasingly seems unable to effectively transport its workforce. At Penn Station, crowds of commuters fuming at frequent afternoon delays already wedge into narrow stairways down to the tracks, all for the privilege of standing in the aisles of packed trains for a 45-minute ride home. In the mornings, it can take 10 minutes just to climb a flight of stairs to the concourse. The summer’s accelerated repair work, prompted by two derailments this spring, will close some of the station’s 21 tracks and require a roughly 20 percent reduction in the number of commuter trains coming in from New Jersey and Long Island. Amtrak also is reducing the number of trains it runs between New York and Washington and diverting some trains from Albany across town to Grand Central Terminal. “We’re all dreading it,” said Maura McGloin, who commutes daily from Woodbridge, New Jersey, about 25 miles away. “I’d rather have my teeth pulled out.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said in May that “it will be a summer of hell for commuters.” Around the same time, he wrote a letter to President Donald Trump asking for federal help and appealing to Trump’s New York roots. Penn Station is just one symptom of a larger illness. With an aging subway system subject to a recent state-of-emergency order by Cuomo, and a 67-year-old bus terminal called “appalling” and “functionally obsolete” by officials of the agency that runs it, the New York area’s transportation systems embody America’s inability, or unwillingness, to address its aging infrastructure. While Trump has talked of a $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan, it’s short on details . Meanwhile, the Republican’s budget proposes a change that could jeopardize federal funding for a key project to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, seen as critical to the region’s economic vitality. Penn Station is a destination in itself, but it is also a hub for transfers, greeting about 600,000 passengers a day with low ceilings and dim lighting in what is essentially the basement of Madison Square Garden. Commuter rail lines snake in from New Jersey to the west and Long Island to the east. Busy subway lines run through it, and it’s the city’s only Amtrak stop. Delays are common, and commuters often tweet photos with captions that can’t be repeated here. Amtrak owns and operates the station, as well as surrounding tracks and equipment. New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road have used Twitter to pin blame for delays on the government-owned railroad. This spring, two minor derailments at the station caused major headaches. One, caused by aging ties that allowed a track to split apart, closed eight tracks and disrupted service between Boston and Washington for four days. During a separate hourslong delay caused by a disabled train, police shocked an unruly person with a stun gun, leading to a stampede over fears of a shooting. On Thursday night, there was another minor derailment at

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he has declared a state of emergency over New York City’s troubled public transit system and has asked its new leader to complete a series of urgent reviews of the agency’s management and aging infrastructure. The Democratic governor said the state of emergency declaration will help cut red tape and speed up improvements. The city’s subways and commuter trains have been plagued by rising delays and unreliable service. Dozens of people were injured when a subway derailed Tuesday. Cuomo, speaking at a conference for the MTA Genius Transit Challenge, which is seeking innovative solutions for the city’s transit woes, said he’s asked Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joe Lhota to come up with a reorganization plan in 30 days and an equipment review in 60 days. He also wants a 90-day review of transit power failures. The state of the subway system “is wholly unacceptable,” said Cuomo, citing decades of underinvestment, deferred maintenance and surging ridership. “I think of it as a heart attack — it happens all of a sudden and the temptation is to say, ‘Well, something must have just caused it,’” Cuomo said. “No, a lifetime caused it. Bad habits caused it.” The problems abound: In a fleet of 6,400 subway cars, more than 700 have passed their 40-year expiration date. The oldest are 52: “They literally should be in a museum,” Cuomo said. It takes the MTA five years to get a new car. “That is just ridiculous. I could build a car in five years,” Cuomo said. “If the MTA’s current vendors can’t provide them in the timeframe we need, then the MTA should find new vendors. It’s that simple.” Much of the signal system was installed before 1937. The MTA’s current replacement timetable is seven to 10 years per line — 40 to 50 years systemwide. “You have countries that are building entire subway systems in a matter of years,” Cuomo said. The ongoing subway problems are coupled with two months of Amtrak repair work that will cause widespread delays at Penn Station, where the subways converge with New York and New Jersey commuter lines and Amtrak trains. Cuomo repeated his warning that rail riders could face “a summer of hell” but said alternatives like ferries, express buses and creative train scheduling should provide some relief. Conference participants included representatives of transit systems in Paris, London, Istanbul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Toronto, Zurich and Copenhagen. (AP)

The head of the agency that runs the Long Island Rail Road says riders will be “fairly compensated” for being inconvenienced by construction work this summer at Pennsylvania Station. Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim made the statement after Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for lower fares earlier Monday. Hakim is the interim executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA is governed by a 17-member board. The majority of its members are appointed by the governor. Amtrak is performing repair work at Penn Station that will cause LIRR, NJ Transit and Amtrak service disruptions. Besides schedule changes, buses and ferry service is being offered to some affected travelers. LIRR Commuter Council Chairman Mark Epstein says riders should get fare reductions. Hakim’s statement did not elaborate on what “fairly compensated” means. (AP)

The Long Island Rail Road will provide discounts averaging 25 percent to commuters who use transfer hubs in Brooklyn and Queens during the major repair work at Penn Station this summer. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Tuesday that the fare cuts will apply to passengers traveling to Atlantic Terminal and Hunterspoint Avenue. The LIRR will provide free morning rush hour subway transfers from those stations. MTA Interim Director Ronnie Hakim (HAY’-kihm) says the plan will help draw customers away from Penn Station during the Amtrak work. The discounts, which take effect July 10, are based on the distance passengers are traveling. Discounted monthly tickets for July are now available. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for reduced fares on Monday. The repair work also will disrupt New Jersey Transit and Amtrak service. (AP)