(The following story by Michael Lavitt appeared on the Trenton Times website on November 14.)
TRENTON, N.J. — The e-mails started coming from NJ Transit on Friday at 6:15 p.m.
“Due to earlier disabled Amtrak train, trains in and out of NYPS (New York Penn Station) are subject to 20 – 30 minute delays,” read the first message that was sent to e-mail addresses, cell phones and pagers.
Ten minutes later, a second e-mail was sent: “Northeast Corridor (train) 3729 (5:54 p.m. from NYPS) Operating 20 minutes late near Newark.”
A third one, sent at 6:38 p.m., warned, “Northeast Corridor (train) 3871 (6:11 p.m. from NYPS) Operating 15 minutes late near Newark.”
But the whole truth about what caused the delay was more nuanced than the brief messages that warn commuters about delays or — as is usually true — tell them something about the holdup they’re already enduring.
This account was related by an NJ Transit crew member who insisted on anonymity.
The problems began as Amtrak train 239, scheduled to leave New York Penn Station, was pulling out from the platform and heading into the mass of switches and intersecting tracks that carry trains west of the station.
Most of those trains enter Amtrak’s Hudson River tunnels and emerge in New Jersey. But train 239 would be guided into another tunnel that would carry it up Manhattan’s West Side and along the Hudson River to Albany.
The Amtrak engineer thought the switch ahead of his train was misaligned, stopped and called the dispatcher. The train was in a position that blocked the path of trains headed out on some other but not all tracks.
After checking the switch, Amtrak found there was no problem, clearing train 239 to continue. The NJ Transit crew member said some trains were not blocked by the stuck train, but were held up nevertheless as Amtrak worked to check the switch.
“They were just befuddled, fixated on the problem and didn’t look at the big picture,” the crew member said.
NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said 20 of its trains were delayed for between 8 and 17 minutes. Some trains actually were able to depart during the incident, he said.
The crew member said the sort of a mistake the engineer made could lead to a reprimand, probably a verbal one.
But the engineer may have acted prudently, even if his reading of the switches was wrong.
Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said he couldn’t comment on the incident because it’s under investigation.
I’ve ridden with an engineer into Penn Station a couple of times during the years of this column’s existence. The tangle of tracks that take Penn Station’s 20-some tracks and funnel them into the Hudson River tunnels is confusing to an untrained observer.
And even for an engineer familiar with the layout and all the rules that must be followed, it’s easy to understand how one could misread a switch’s position in the darkness beneath Penn Station.
If there had been a switch problem and the train proceeded, the consequences could have been much worse.
People could have been hurt or equipment damaged if the train derailed. Or, train 239 could have been set on a course that would take it into New Jersey, requiring it be backed up into the station again and sent in the right direction.
The delays could have been significantly longer than the 20 minutes or so commuters endured Friday night.