NEW YORK - Thousands of straphangers are getting their first glimpse of the so-called "Summer of Hell" Monday as major track work gets underway at Penn Station.

Amtrak is starting the first phase of extensive repairs at the nation's busiest transit hub.

It's forcing major service changes to the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit.

Manhattan-bound New Jersey Transit trains on the Morris and Essex lines will be rerouted to Hoboken, where tickets will be cross-honored on PATH trains and New York Waterway ferries.

Long Island Rail Road service in and out of Penn Station will be reduced by about 20 percent. 

Two more cars are being added to all trains to increase capacity on those that are still running.  

Two trains into Penn will be canceled every weekday morning.

Thirteen westbound trains will terminate at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, Hunters Point in Queens, or Jamaica Station.

But three new trains will be added early in the rush hour.

In the evening, seven trains out of Penn will be canceled.

Ten more eastbound trains will originate in Brooklyn and Queens instead of Penn Station.

Two trains will be added.

There are also two new ferry routes to 34th Street in Manhattan: One from Long Island City and another from Glen Cove on Long Island.

The MTA's also creating new park and ride bus options throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Free morning subway transfers will be available to all Long Island Rail Road ticketholders at Hunterspoint Avenue, Jamaica Station and Atlantic Terminal.

As for Amtrak, trains will be rerouted to Grand Central for the first time in nearly three decades.

The first phase of construction at Penn runs through July 25.

The second phase begins August 4th and goes to August 28.

Schedule changes will be in effect until September 1.

Meantime, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota says everything is going according to plan when it comes to the agency's planned service changes.

Speaking to NY1 at Jamaica Station, Lhota says service changes to the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit are in good shape.

"While we have reduced number of trains during certain periods of time we've expanded the number of trains earlier and later. We have more than enough seats for everybody to get in to the city by train. But I will tell you it's been my recommendation for anybody who wants to change here at Jamaica and go into downtown Brooklyn at Atlantic Terminal, in the last hour it's doubled, and so people are listening and we're very very happy," Lhota said.

The chairman advises commuters to keep a close eye on MTA schedules.

He says straphangers should be prepared to switch up their routine while the construction is underway.