Crumbling Hell's Kitchen Parking Garage Suspends Amtrak Albany Service

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — A decaying parking garage above Amtrak train tracks in Hell's Kitchen has disrupted service on the line servicing New York and Albany, according to officials.

Since Sunday, Amtrak service between New York City's Pennsylvania Station and the Croton-Harmon station in Westchester has been suspended, the train operator said, due to safety issues related to the structural deficiencies discovered over the weekend.

On Friday, an engineer hired by the owners of a 38-story Hell's Kitchen building at 747 10th Ave., a building called Hudsonview Terrace, alerted the city's Buildings Department and Amtrak that two holes found on ramps inside a garage operated by Icon Parking below the building on West 51st Street, according to city officials.

A Buildings official described the two holes as only inches in diameter.

After issuing a partial vacate order citing defective concrete, Amtrak and city engineers believed they could install overhead protection to avoid service disruptions while making repairs.

But as those overhead protections were being installed on Sunday morning, Amtrak workers discovered more serious structural issues at the roof of the tunnel beneath the parking garage.

The damage — which included cracked and deteriorated steel beams — was extensive enough that officials decided it was not safe to run trains on those tracks servicing the New York City and Albany line.

In a statement, city hall said that cars still inside the garage will be cleared out when it is safe to do so, and that no neighboring buildings are currently threatened by the issues found in the garage.

The discovery of the dangerous structural condition comes just months after a parking garage collapsed in Lower Manhattan on Ann Street in April, killing one and injuring five.

Spot inspections afterwards shut down a slew of garages across the city over structural concerns, including a garage inside a landmarked Park Slope building.

In late 2021, the city announced a new parking structure inspection cycle requiring property owners to hire engineers to inspect parking structures at least once every six year.

According to the Department of Buildings, the property does not currently have a parking structure report on file, but a spokesperson said that the owners are required submit a structural engineering report by the end of the year.

The Buildings Department confirmed the property owner's engineer was looking at the building when he called 911.

As of Monday morning, service between New York City and the Croton-Harmon station in Westchester remains suspended, according to Amtrak — a major disruption to regional train service used by commuters and lawmakers alike.

The coach bus operator, Trailways, has added over 200 seats per day to their schedule to increase service for stranded passengers, with stops at Port Authority, SUNY Albany, Albany International Airport, Downtown Albany, and the Amtrak Rensselaer Station in the Capital Region.

"We are working closely with Amtrak and other transit partners to protect public safety and maintain regular communication with riders," Mayor Eric Adams said on Sunday in a social media post.

State Senator Brad Hoylman, a weekly commuter on the currently suspended Albany line, told W42ST that he was "alarmed how close this situation came to disaster and am grateful to the engineer who alerted the authorities. This is a prime example of New York’s aging infrastructure and the dangers it poses to the public."