NEWARK, New Jersey — New Jersey has a pair of boats on standby to ferry soccer fans across the Hudson River in case of a meltdown at North America’s largest train station during the World Cup.
The state’s transit system normally runs buses and trains, but it’s turning to watercraft for backup following a recent series of fires and electrical problems at New York Penn Station, the train hall at the heart of the region’s tournament planning.
After one of the recent fires, New Jersey Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said he texted one of his top aides at some “ungodly hour.”
“Yeah,” Kolluri recalled saying, “we’re going to need a bigger boat.”
He’s ordered a pair of ferries to be available, along with more than 500 buses to help carry people if there’s a problem at Penn. If needed, the 600-person boats will get fans from New York City to Weehawken, New Jersey, and then onto buses bound for MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.
This World Cup contingency plan, made public at a Wednesday afternoon press conference, also serves as a warning to Amtrak, the national passenger railroad that runs Penn Station. For years, problems at Penn and along the miles of track surrounding it — which New Jersey and New York transit agencies rely on to run their trains — have upended commuters’ lives.
Now, the problems at Penn could become a national embarrassment. The lion’s share of soccer fans are expected to stay in New York City before heading to eight matches, including the final, being held at MetLife.
"Without Amtrak we will not be able to execute a proper plan for FIFA," Kolluri told reporters, referring to the global governing body for soccer.
Kolluri is not the only transit leader on edge about Amtrak’s problems.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Janno Lieber, CEO of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, have also panned Amtrak in recent weeks.
“I don’t know who is running Amtrak at this point,” Lieber said in late May, after one fire at the station that Amtrak blamed on contractors. “When you see impacts like we are seeing in New York right now, you say, ‘What is going on at Amtrak?’”
Amtrak has been preparing for the World Cup for months and plans to have people on standby to help make quick repairs if anything goes wrong. Typical problems involve aging electric systems that power trains, but one of the recent fires was blamed on a mechanical failure in which a component detached from the underside of one of Amtrak’s new Acela trains.
Amtrak Chief Operations Officer Gery Williams said the railroad is “ready and prepared” for the World Cup.
“Amtrak is fully committed to ensuring a safe and seamless World Cup experience for fans traveling throughout the New York-New Jersey region,” he said in a statement. “We have been planning with our partners for years, including developing mitigation plans, putting contingencies in place to protect safety, security, and service reliability, and investing approximately $30M to improve our infrastructure and address specific locations that could be at risk with heavy usage.”
The tensions run deep in the region and involve a balkanized regional rail network. Amtrak owns much of the infrastructure, including Penn Station and lots of miles of track, that the MTA and New Jersey Transit run their trains on. But railroad leaders are often at odds.
Train problems aren’t Penn Station’s only issue. There was also a stabbing at Penn Station this week that injured a half dozen people.
Amtrak executive Andy Byford — revered for his time atop London’s public transit system before moving to America — recently unveiled plans to overhaul Penn Station. But that will take six years and $7 billion.
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