(Bloomberg News circulated the following story by Courtney Dentch and Chris Dolmetsch on April 25.)
NEW YORK — Thousands of Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad riders were delayed for as much as an hour this morning after service was temporarily suspended in Connecticut because of damage to overhead wires that provide power to trains.
Metro-North, the second-busiest U.S. commuter railroad, suspended service on its New Haven Line, which runs between northern Connecticut and Manhattan, shortly after 6 a.m. when all four overhead wires were damaged or fell between Greenwich and Cos Cob, spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.
As a result, Amtrak suspended trains between Boston and New York’s Pennsylvania Station from about 6:15 a.m. until service was partially restored at about 7:30 a.m., the national passenger railroad said in a statement.
One track was restored later in the morning, yet Amtrak and Metro-North said passengers should expect delays in the area throughout the day. The New Haven Line is Metro-North’s busiest, with 59,000 passengers a day, Anders said.
“What caused this we just don’t know at this point,” Brucker said. “But I will tell you that even when we get this one track back, it’s going to be very limited service with just one track out of four, a lot of trains backed up and a lot of delays.”
Bus service would be “impossible” to establish to shuttle commuters because one train carries 1,200 customers and one bus carries just 55, Brucker said.
Metro-North told customers on the New Haven Line traveling toward Grand Central Terminal to expect waits of as much as an hour for service, while delays of as much as 30 minutes were possible on trains to Connecticut.
As of about 9 a.m., Amtrak had canceled one train and had delays on six others, with delays of as much as 40 minutes between New Haven and New Rochelle, spokesman Cliff Cole said.
Long Island Rail Road is the busiest U.S. commuter railroad.