Amtrak service between Albany and New York City has been disrupted by a crumbling building.
Amtrak is taking no chances when it comes to crumbling infrastructure. In July 2022 it temporarily suspended service west of Albany, affecting multiple routes, as city officials scrambled to determine the extent of structural failure of the downtown Central Warehouse building, a long-vacant eyesore in the city’s industrial riverfront area.
On Sunday the railroad announced it was shutting the Empire Line down because of safety issues at a privately owned parking garage in New York City that sits above tracks on Manhattan's west side at West 51st St. between 10th and 11th Avenues.
Trains are running from Albany to the Croton-Harmon station in Westchester, where riders can board Metro-North trains.
Passengers boarded Monday afternoon's 1:05 train out of Rensselaer's Joseph L. Bruno Rail Station early, scurrying to the platform, cell phones and schedules in hand. Travelers say they are paying more attention to what's happening, some monitoring social media, others getting the news directly while riding Amtrak, like Don Coling from Erieville in Madsion County.
"We came here from Montreal last night. The first announcement was they could only get the train to Albany because this building might collapse on the train in New York," said Coling. And then the second announcement was 'I got some good news for you. We're, we've been trying to get you to partway down the Hudson to Poughkeepsie or somewhere and we get you to Croton heights or somewhere. And you should be looking on your internet for connections. And you can go and buy your ticket.’ And then the third announcement was 'They're going to honor your ticket.' So that was nice. I was thinking, I already bought my tickets. So it was it worked out good for everybody."
Frequent traveler Kate Hartman of Bennington, Vermont keeps one eye on the departure board.
"I did have a train booked yesterday. I ended up postponing it until today. I did pay a little bit extra to have the leeway to change my train. Um, it wasn't too bad. I ended up taking a research day today so I didn't miss work. But I do know a lot of people that were probably impacted by it, especially going towards the New York City area. So luckily, I'm going to Rochester which wasn't too badly impacted," Hartman said.
Coling, who says he enjoys taking trains, shrugged off any disruption or delay of his travel plans.
"Ours is a bit delayed, but we're not in that big a hurry," Coling said. "It's cheaper than an airline and it's kind of fun."
On X, formerly Twitter, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday that city engineers were dispatched to the parking garage to assess the situation and emergency work orders were issued so the parking garage owners could begin addressing the situation. Big Apple media outlets reported yellow caution tape was seen wrapped around the now-closed Icon Parking Garage late Sunday night. City officials doubled down on inspecting parking garages after a three-story parking garage in lower Manhattan collapsed in April, killing one worker, injuring several others and crushing dozens of cars.
Railroad officials say they don't know when full service will be restored. An Amtrak spokesperson tells WAMC aside from the parking garage in the city and Central Warehouse in Albany there no other structures or conditions the railroad is watching that could pose a threat to or otherwise impact train service between Albany and New York City.
