Amtrak and NJ Transit service to NYC Penn Station was suspended Monday morning due to power issues

Damage to an overhead line on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor near Newark, New Jersey, led to an hour-long suspension of train service between New Jersey and New York Penn Station on Monday morning, complicating the morning commute.

The downed wire halted all traffic on the Northeast Corridor between Philadelphia and New York around 9:30 a.m. Monday before traffic resumed shortly after 10:30 a.m

NJ Transit service, which also operates on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line, also resumed around 10:30 a.m

Service on the Northeast Corridor as well as on the North Jersey Coast Line north of Long Branch was suspended, and trains bound for New York Penn were rerouted to NJ Transit’s Hoboken Terminal.

Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams told the Daily News that passengers should expect delays of “less than an hour” as trains return to service.

According to an automated announcement played over the loudspeaker in the Moynihan Train Hall, the damage to overhead wires was in the “Newark, New Jersey area.” “We sincerely thank you for your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.”

Abrams said the cause of the cable break “remains under investigation.”

In a statement, Amtrak called the outage an “unexpected situation,” although power outages are common on the section of track approaching New York Penn Station.

Amtrak’s aging infrastructure, much of which was originally installed by the now-defunct Pennsylvania Rail Road, coupled with NJ Transit’s aging rolling stock, has resulted in a summer of misery for commuters and regional rail riders in the Garden State, with frequent cancellations of both the signal and traction energy systems – often several times a week.

Failures of the overhead lines – the power lines that function similarly to the third rail of a subway – have occurred regularly on the railway line in recent months.

In May, an overhead power line short-circuited near Kearny, New Jersey, prompting Garden State Gov. Phil Murphy to call the ongoing outages a “complete disaster” and demand higher levels from the federal railroad Demand investment in their aging infrastructure.

However, power problems continue, with multiple outages occurring along the same stretch of route through the New Jersey Meadowlands.

The two railroads announced in June that they would conduct more frequent inspections of both power lines and the trains’ pantographs that collect traction power.

But the power problems go beyond just overhead wires — in September, at least four trains were stranded between Meadowlands and Penn Station when a 1932 substation in North Bergen, New Jersey, failed for 40 minutes.

Originally published: December 2, 2024 at 10:43 am EST