'Summer Of Hell' Begins: Shocked Commuters Report Pleasant Journeys

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NEW YORK, NY — The first day of the "Summer of Hell" turned out to be pretty pleasant Monday as surprised commuters reported a smooth operation with few delays and packed cars no where near as bad as expected.

"So far it's better service than we had last week," said Steph Gordon, 44, traveling on a NJ Transit Midtown Direct train into Hoboken. It would usually go straight into Penn Station.

"It was on time. I don't remember the last time my train was on time."

Commuters across the tri-state area climbed aboard the trains Monday morning for the first day of what Gov. Andrew Cuomo had dubbed the "Summer of Hell," an eight-week shutdown of several Penn Station tracks for emergency repairs that is expected to cause more headaches for people getting to work, severely crowded trains and increased subway ridership at several major arteries.

The disruption was expected to be significant at the nation’s busiest train station, which services 600,000 daily commuter trips on Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road. All three of those rail lines have significant changes planned during the repairs. You can see those here.

As the morning commute wound down, though, riders found they had taken a largely smooth, if a little more crowded, trip into the city. Riding home, when more passengers will take trips during a shorter window, could be a different story.

"It was right on time, no big deal at all. No problems at all," Anthony Hill, 58, a customer service rep who took the 6:17 a.m. NJ Transit train from Newark/Penn Station, told Patch.

"The problem is the commute going home. I’m just going to try my luck. The back-up plan is the PATH and the back-up to that is going to be going to the Port Authority and trying to take a bus."

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Some normal routes were diverted and subway platforms were a little more crowded than usual, but the first day of emergency repairs did not feature the sort of dramatic overcrowding or harrowing incidents some imagined.

Subway service in the city was unaffected early on, with no delays or service changes across the city, except for some scheduled work. And apart from a small fire in a Penn Station bathroom that was not connected with the track repairs, the morning proceeded as usual, for the most part.

In the early hours of the morning commute, riders said their trains were a little busier than usual, but things were largely running smoothly.

"I'm seeing more crowding on the trains and the platforms,” Bernadette Woolfolk, a woman in her 50s who took the Long Island Railroad from Cambria Heights, told Patch at Atlantic Terminal shortly before 7:30 a.m. "I am worried. There has to be a reason they discounted my ticket, right?"

Julia Galbally, who works in restaurant industry, took NJ Transit’s Midtown Direct line to Penn Station from Summit.

"A little more crowded than usual," Galbally, 40, said of her ride. "A smaller train pulled up — not a double decker — everyone’s standing there waiting for the doors to open. It never opened. It left and then, finally, a larger train pulled up."

Some LIRR trains are ending at Atlantic Terminal during these repairs, forcing passengers to connect to Manhattan by subway.

"It's an inconvenience. Now I gotta stand here and wait," Erica Rodriguez, 35, who works in human resources in Times Square, told Patch. "I told my boss I might be late - it's beyond our control."

Amtrak, which owns and operates Penn Station, had originally planned to complete these repairs over the course of a few years, but several high-profile train derailment and other incidents on their tracks in and out of New York City accelerated those plans.

The company admitted that its 40-year-old tracks wouldn’t be able to handle the 3 million-passenger increase Amtrak had seen over the last 10 years and decided to fast-track those repairs from July 10 through September 1.

Patch is partnering with WNYC to get your voice heard. Sign up for the We The Commuters project here.

Kathleen Culliton and Shant Shahrigian contributed reporting.

Lead image by Kathleen Culliton