Monday began the start of what New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo affectionately dubbed the “summer of hell” for commuters in the tristate area. The more than 600,000 riders that pass through New York’s Penn Station each and every day were expected to experience daily delays as repair work began on Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Railroad.

Cuomo said the work would continue until September. Those who are familiar with construction work in the Big Apple, however, theorized that the hellscape would last far longer than just a single summer.

Read: Six Times The Long Island Railroad Has Crashed Or Derailed

The construction was set to reduce the number of trains serviced by the station by about 20 percent, a huge blow to tens of thousands of commuters who will need to find alternative routes. The “summer of hell” added further anxieties to a commuting system that has already experienced its fair share of issues, including several recent derailments. One occurred just last week as a New Jersey Transit train derailed at Penn Station. More than 100 were injured and one woman was killed last year when a New Jersey Transit train derailed as it entered Hoboken’s terminal.

The delays will likely cause more problems than just the frustrations of commuters: an estimate by the Partnership for NYC expected employers in the city to lose around $14.5 million for each hour that commuters from New Jersey and Long Island were delayed.

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Added delays will do nothing to quell the frustrations of an already irate swath of commuters. A survey of 1,227 riders released Saturday by the NYC Comptroller’s office revealed that 74 percent of commuters were late for a work meeting as a result of the transportation system, while 18 percent were reprimanded and 13 percent lost wages. Overall, 14 percent of respondents graded the subway service an “F,” while 24 percent said it deserved a “D” and 35 percent graded it a “C.”

On the first day of the “summer of hell,” riders already had much to say about the impending doom. Users on social media shared photos of standing room only trains, and at least one person tweeted a photo of a survival kit for the summer.

“Summer of Hell Survival kit: water, oatmeal, phone charger & Xanax,” the user wrote.

Not helping matters was a minor garbage fire at the station early Monday morning.

“Penn Station smelled like smoke and burning metal this morning. Either a fire or Satan reclaiming his property,” another user tweeted.

The chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Joe Lhota, however, said the first morning of repairs had gone “excellent.” Just the day before, Lhota attempted to give commuters a simple fix for braving the travel scene.

“Try to come in earlier – or later if your job allows it,” he said. “I know you can always come in earlier. We’re asking Long Islanders who take the railway to change their habits. We have to be flexible, as well.”

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