Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Power Problems Again Snarl Traffic On Northeast Corridor

Power problems on the Northeast Corridor before the Hudson River tunnels in North Bergen caused systemwide problems for Amtrak and NJ Transit this morning.
Spokesman Clifford Cole said there was a low voltage problem near North Bergen that forced the railroad to halt trains into and out of New York’s Penn Station early Wednesday.

Cole says service resumed just after 9 a.m., but passengers faced delays.

NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel says Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line and Midtown Direct trains into and out of New York are still stuck.
Delays were 45 minutes and longer due to the power problems. NJ Transit cancelled service and rerouted traffic to Hoboken where possible. The PATH system was also cross honoring passes.

Meanwhile, Amtrak's website is so convoluted that it's hard to tell whether they even notify the public of those delays, which 1010wins.com reports was 30-60 minutes.

It's an all too common occurrence on the electrified Northeast Corridor, but don't expect relief anytime soon. For all the talk of improving the rail infrastructure on Northeast Corridor, the power systems remain antiquated.

UPDATE:
All service in and out of NY Penn Station to New Jersey is shut down because of the power problems. (HT: Mrs. Lawhawk) Mrs Lawhawk, who was stuck on one of the trains that crawled into Manhattan this morning late because of the power problems, also notes that the trains weren't nearly as comfortable as the NJ Transit reports claimed. There was some emergency lighting, but the HVAC wasn't working properly on her train.

Still no word from the Amtrak website about today's delays.

UPDATE:
Service was apparently restored around 11:30AM but residual delays remain.

UPDATE:
NJ Transit issued a statement about the earlier problems and apologized to commuters. However, no sooner than the residual delays cleared out that a stalled train has again snarled the commute with 30 minute delays in both directions out of Penn Station.

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