Wick Moorman talks to press at PSNY.jpeg

Amtrak President and CEO Wick Moorman talks to the press in Penn Station earlier this month about the cause of two derailments on March 24 and April 3. Moorman will unveil Amtrak's plan to improve Penn Station on Thursday morning. (Larry Higgs | NJ Advance media for NJ.com)

UPDATE: Information on the latest announcement can be found here.

At a Thursday morning news conference, Amtrak President Wick Moorman is expected to unveil the railroad's plans to improve Penn Station's infrastructure and operations in the wake of two derailments which demonstrated the fragility of the busiest train station in the country.

Amtrak officials said the press conference will be about a "series of major track and switch renewal projects" which will make "America's busiest rail station more efficient, safe and better able to serve its passengers and users."

Last year more than 10 million passengers used Penn Station, according to Amtrak figures.

Without the work, Amtrak officials said that NJ Transit and the Long Island Rail Road would "continue to see disruptions which could impact passenger safety." The announcement comes after Monday and Tuesday saw significant delays due to Amtrak work on Track 7.

Amtrak officials who spoke to the New York Times said that Penn Station infrastructure has become so brittle that it urgently needs an overhaul. They have discussed closing several tracks for days or weeks at a time in the coming months. Closing any of the 21 tracks at the busy station would likely cause extensive delays, which officials said they would try to minimize.

"This renewal effort will replace and rejuvenate the selected infrastructure providing needed updates, and is different than the ongoing repair work in New York Penn," said Christina Leeds, an Amtrak spokeswoman.

That work could result in some delays and cancellations, she said, which was foreshadowed by NJ Transit warning its riders on Tuesday to expect a minimum of 15 minute delays on weekdays and 30 minutes on weekends "indefinitely" because of Amtrak repairs.

Total commute today: 5 hours.... 😔 it's just really sad, something that should only be 1h10min each way. @NJTRANSIT #njtransit — Linda Thell Falzone (@Lindathell) April 25, 2017

Earlier Wednesday, Gov. Chris Christie gave Amtrak some rare praise in a statement.

"It's good to see Amtrak is finally beginning to make the long-ignored repairs to infrastructure at New York Penn Station and throughout the Northeast Corridor," Christie said. "We are closely monitoring the situation to make sure these repairs by Amtrak address our deepest safety concerns."

Christie said that he wants to make sure they are done in the most timely fashion to reduce inconvenience to riders, while ensuring long-term reliability."

However, Christie cautioned Amtrak officials not to ignore the rest of the Northeast Corridor line.

"The condition of the overhead wires and the tracks and the rest of the infrastructure is just as important on the corridor in New Brunswick as it is going in and out of Manhattan," he said.

Amtrak's plans come after a tumultuous month with a March 24 derailment of an Acela train, which sideswiped an NJ Transit commuter train arriving in Penn Station, an April 3 derailment of an NJ Transit train at a key Penn Station junction and the April 14 stranding of an NJ Transit train in one of the Hudson River tunnels for several hours.

Those problems resulted in delays and overcrowding for commuters.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.