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New Yorkers who regularly travel through Penn Station are getting a bit of good transit news today: One of the century-old rail tunnels beneath the East River is finally back in business after more than a year of construction.
Amtrak’s Line 2 tube of the East River Tunnel reopened today, following an extensive rehabilitation that essentially involved stripping the three-mile tunnel down to its concrete shell and rebuilding it from the inside out. The tube had been closed since May 2025, as part of a massive project to repair damage dating back to Superstorm Sandy. (Yes, 2012’s Superstorm Sandy.)
The East River Tunnel is one of the most important—but probably least thought-about—pieces of New York’s transit system. Its four tubes run beneath the East River between Manhattan and Queens, connecting Penn Station with Long Island and carrying more than 450 Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit trains every day.
Two of those tubes were flooded with millions of gallons of saltwater during Sandy, which damaged tracks, electrical systems, signals and other infrastructure. But rather than continuing to patch things up, Amtrak launched a full-scale rehabilitation of the two damaged tubes, beginning with Line 2 last year.
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Crews removed 24,000 feet of running rail, 12,000 feet of third rail, 8,000 railroad ties and 8,100 tons of ballast. They also demolished roughly 24,000 feet of old concrete benchwall, the walking paths alongside the tracks that house critical cables. Once everything was cleared out, workers discovered additional problems including blocked drainage, deteriorating conduits and widespread water infiltration.
The rebuilt tube now has a new direct-fixation track, upgraded drainage, new signal, communications and power systems, redesigned emergency walkways, and improved fire and life-safety systems. Amtrak says the overhaul is intended to make the tunnel more resilient and reliable for decades to come.
Before you start celebrating the end of East River Tunnel construction, though, there’s a sequel coming: Line 1, the second Sandy-damaged tube, will close later this year for the same treatment. Amtrak says lessons learned during the first closure will help inform that work, with the entire East River Tunnel rehabilitation currently scheduled to wrap up by the end of 2027.
For now, at least, one very important piece of New York’s underground transit puzzle is officially back where it belongs: carrying trains.