NJ Transit, Amtrak delays stall Wednesday commute following power outages

Delays for commuters on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains significantly dropped Wednesday evening following a day of rail congestion and power issues.

News 12 Staff

Jun 20, 2019, 2:32 AM

Updated 1,765 days ago

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Delays for commuters on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains significantly dropped Wednesday evening following a day of rail congestion and power issues.
New Jersey Transit said in a tweet, "Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line rail service is operating on or close to schedule with residual delays to trains still enroute following earlier Amtrak power issues."
Amtrak experienced a service disruption Wednesday morning, which caused trains on two lines to lose power. Amtrak says the first power outage happened around 10:30 a.m., which trapped trains in the south tube.
Due to an overhead power issue between Trenton and Philadelphia, all trains traveling between New York Penn Station and North Philadelphia were stopped around noon. The outage left passengers on dark trains, and stuck in the Hudson River tunnels with no air conditioning. Some decided to get off and find other ways to get where they needed to go.
"The power went out on the train so I decided to get off where I could still Uber home at a reasonable price," said Jordyn Goldberg.
There was also a transformer issue between Metropark and New Brunswick. Amtrak says the incidents were unrelated.
Advocates for transportation improvements say Wednesday's problems show why solutions are needed.
"This is a terrible burden for commuters but it's also the kind of thing you see when you have a lack of investment in your real system as we see in New Jersey," said Nat Bottigheimer, director of the Regional Planning Association for NJ Transit.
The Regional Planning Association says the first thing they would like to see is a portal bridge, and are hoping the federal administration takes action on it soon.
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