|
KYW Newsradio Team Coverage
An electrical power failure along train tracks shut down most train service throughout the Northeast Corridor for several hours on Thursday morning. And there were delays even after power was restored.
KYW's Al Novack reports that Amtrak Northeast Corridor service between New York and Washington, DC was halted about 8:15am when its power went off. A very limited number of trains resumed service several hours later using diesel locomotives. At about 10:45am, power was being restored to the Amtrak lines.
Amtrak president David Hughes says workers had not pinpointed the problem by that time, but it was somewhere north of Philadelphia.
The acting Amtrak president says Amtrak was putting one train back on line about every five minutes because workers needed to power up gradually.
Hughes adds there's no reason to believe the rolling outages were caused by suspicious activity.
SEPTA service was affected by the Amtrak power failure, especially in and around 30th Street Station.
SEPTA was advising passengers to seek alternate transportation for Regional Rail routes R1 Airport, R2 Wilmington, R3 Media, R5 Paoli, R6 Cynwyd, R7 Trenton, and R8 Chestnut Hill West. The R2 Warminster, R3 West Trenton, R5 Lansdale-Doylestown, R6 Norristown, R7 Chestnut Hill East and R8 Fox Chase lines were operating only as far as Suburban Station in center city Philadelphia until power was restored around 10:45am.
 The transit agency said that once Amtrak restored power, all SEPTA service would resume quickly.
New Jersey Transit was reporting only very limited service during the power outage on its trains using diesel engines. Commuter train workers helped some riders make their way off the stalled trains and back to nearby stations. But NJT warned that any passenger leaving a train without an escort would be taken into custody by railroad police.
KYW's Ian Bush, stranded aboard a New York City-bound NJ Transit train, reports that for over two hours between Secaucus Junction and the tunnel into the city Thursday morning, his fellow passengers -- mostly commuters -- caught up on shut-eye, read the newspaper, or ate the breakfast they were glad to have purchased before boarding.
 NJT officials used a diesel car to push another train into this one, and then pulled both back to Secaucus, where commuters were able to ride into Hoboken and then into New York City via PATH trains.
But after the long, sweaty wait, the solution provided little consolation to travelers, many of whom barked over each other on cell phones trying to reschedule meetings and appointments and connections -- like the scheduled 9:35am Amtrak back to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia that I missed.
Mike LaRosa, a daily South Orange, NJ-New York City commuter I was sitting next to, was trying to take the delays in stride:
"At least it's not Friday. Because while it's not fun anytime, this certainly wouldn't be a good way to kick off the Memorial Day weekend."
KYW's Michelle Durham talked with some stranded passengers at 30th Street Station.
By 9:30am the crowds at 30th Street Station started to thin, as people canceled their plans or made other arrangements.
But Cedric, of Vorhees, NJ, had a special reason to stay:
"My grandson graduates from law school on Saturday and we're going to be there to attend his graduation ceremony."
And Cedric finally boarded his train about two hours late.
KYW's Paul Kurtz spoke to frustrated passengers at Suburban Station.
Lillian Thomas was going to work when her train came to a sudden stop at Suburban Station:
"I was at Market East and I got on the R5 thinking I'm going out to Radnor. And they told us to get off here. So that's where I've been since 8:25."
For Gary Garlotta, the timing of the power outage could not have been worse:
"I worked all night and I'm headed home to the Paoli area, and I've been here since 8:10 in the morning."
Garlotta and Thomas persevered and finally boarded their train around 11am. But most of the other R5 passengers gave up and found alternate transportation to their destinations.
|
