(The following story by Larry Higgs appeared on the Asbury Park Press website on May 29.)
NEWARK, N.J. — Wednesday morning was a perfect storm of commuting calamity, when a disabled train blocked two tracks in Newark’s Penn Station, delaying tens of thousands of commuters and about 100 trains during the morning rush.
The immobile train caused 45- to 90-minute delays for riders of the North Jersey Coast and Northeast Corridor lines, 15- to 20-minute delays for Raritan Valley Line riders and a 15- to 20-minute backup for MidTown Direct customers, whose trains had to wait for track slots in New York’s Penn Station, said Dan Stessel, NJ Transit spokesman.
NJ Transit and Amtrak trains were reported to be running on or close to schedule by 1 p.m., and normal service was expected for the evening rush hour.
The trouble began when NJ Transit Train 3806, the first New York-bound Northeast Corridor train from Trenton, experienced a problem with the pantograph — the arm on the roof that connects to the overhead wire — between Elizabeth and Newark, Stessel said. The train lost power just as the first car reached the platform of Track 1 around 5 a.m. Wednesday, and the rest of the train was across tracks 1 and A, he said.
That allowed the 300 people on board to get off the train through the front car, he said. The bad news was the train could not be moved, which took two primary eastbound tracks out of service, Stessel said. It was moved around 9 a.m., he said.
“The equipment had to stay until Amtrak personnel could de-energize the catenary (wire) and cut away the pantograph,” he said. “Moving that train would not have given us that track back. Amtrak was still working on the catenary wire.”
A section of catenary had to be de-energized to Newark Liberty International Airport and North Elizabeth, meaning a couple miles of track were out of service, Stessel said.
Amtrak trains experienced 15- to 40-minute delays getting into and around Newark until 1 p.m., and delays getting in and out of Penn Station, New York, said Cliff Cole, Amtrak spokesman.
Officials will not know if there was any damage to overhead wires until a report is issued today, he said.
“It was a particularly bad location and happened at an unfortunate time,” Stessel said.
Delays started to moderate to 30 minutes behind schedule by 10 a.m., and by 12:50 p.m., Track 1 was back in service, he said.
Letters apologizing to riders and explaining the cause of the delay were e-mailed to passengers who have signed up for NJ Transit’s e-mail alerts and posted on the agency’s Web site.