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- A power outage disrupted Amtrak and NJ Transit service throughout the Northeast Corridor on Wednesday.
- Many trains were delayed or cancelled on the busiest routes in the country.
- Power was restored just before 11 a.m. ET, Amtrak said.
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Train service in the Northeast Corridor, the busiest rail route in the United States, was snarled by electrical problems on Wednesday, disrupting commutes for hundreds of passengers.
Amtrak, which owns and controls much of the trackage between Washington, DC, New York, and Boston, said on its verified Twitter account that an overhead power issue had stopped trains between Philadelphia and New York.
An Amtrak spokesperson said power had been restores by about 10:45am, an service was returning to normal, but three trains inside the tunnel under the Hudson River required rescuing. Here’s the statement:
"As of approximately 10:30 am this morning, due to an overhead power issue between Trenton and Philadelphia, all trains traveling between New York Penn Station and North Philadelphia have been stopped, and there is a hold on the tracks. The cause is under investigation, but at around 10:45 am power has been restored in full, although the hold of the trains traveling east of Philadelphia is still in effect. There are also three disabled trains in the South Tube that are currently being rescued. Will share more information as it becomes available."
Departure boards at Penn Station in New York, easily the busiest rail terminal in the country, showed mounting delays as of 10:45 am Wednesday. New Jersey Transit commuter trains, as well as Amtrak rail service was affected. Long Island Railroad, which provides service to points East of New York City, and Metro North, appeared to be unaffected.
NJ Transit
One Business Insider reporter was stuck on a stopped New York-bound Amtrak Northeast Regional Service at MetroPark, New Jersey, roughly 30 miles from New York, for more than a half hour.
asm.transitdocs"We do not know how long this delay will take," a conductor said aboard Train 172 as it was stuck in New Jersey. "From the east river all the way down is affected. At this time the power director is currently working to address the situation. However, we still don’t now how long this will take."
On a third-party map of Amtrak service, all trains between New York and Philadelphia appeared to be delayed or stopped.
On Twitter, complaints poured in about the delays.
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Source: Business Insider – grapier@businessinsider.com (Graham Rapier)