(The following article by Thomas J. Lueck appeared on the New York Times’ website on July 30.)
NEW YORK — Thousands of rail passengers were delayed yesterday for 90 minutes or more, or forced to find other forms of transportation, after an Amtrak train knocked down overhead power lines on the Northeast Corridor line in New Jersey about 6:30 p.m., the authorities said.
The mishap, at the height of the evening rush for Manhattan commuters, resulted in delays for more than 70 New Jersey Transit trains by late last night, said Penny Bassett Hackett, a spokeswoman for the railroad.
She said average delays, which were estimated at 40 minutes earlier in the evening, had extended to 90 minutes by 11 p.m., and were expected to continue early this morning.
Amtrak officials said a preliminary investigation showed that a mechanism on top of a Metroliner train had become tangled in the overhead lines that power locomotives, The Associated Press reported. Another Amtrak train’s windshield was shattered as it passed the one caught in overhead lines, but the cause remained unclear, no one was injured and the passengers on both trains were transferred to others, the officials said.
For some New York City commuters, the accident meant hours of frustration. “You have to expect these things to happen, but the complaint I have is over the lack of information, of just not knowing the status of things,” said John Abrams, a Manhattan executive, in a telephone interview as he shared an $85 taxi ride from Newark to Princeton about 10:30 p.m.
Mr. Abrams said he had planned to take a 6:47 p.m. New Jersey Transit train from Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan that was to arrive at Princeton Junction at 7:46 p.m. Instead, after a series of delays, he said he got off his stalled train more than three hours later in Newark for the cab ride home.