(The following story by Bill Mason appeared on the Newsday website on February 6, 2009.)
NEW YORK — Thousands of Long Island Rail Road commuters were delayed getting home last night after a New Jersey Transit train problem set in motion a wave of cancellations, officials said.
Nine LIRR rush-hour trains from Penn Station were canceled after a New Jersey Transit train damaged overhead electrical power lines and became stuck in an Amtrak East River tunnel.
Stanley Davis, an LIRR spokesman, said that problem forced New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains to share some of the LIRR tracks, causing LIRR cancellations and delays of up to 30 minutes.
Davis said commuters from those trains were accommodated on other trains out of Penn Station that were scheduled to leave, usually within a few minutes, and those trains adjusted their stops to serve the new passengers.
Delays of up to 30 minutes in the late afternoon were reduced to about 10 or 20 minutes before 7 p.m., Davis said, and the railroad expected trains to be on schedule or close to schedule later in the evening.