(The following article by Justin Rocket Silverman was posted on the Newsday website on August 29.)
NEW YORK — More than 800 people were stuck under the East River for 90 minutes Monday when their Long Island Rail Road train became disabled and had to wait for a rescue engine to pull it back to Penn Station.
“All the passengers thought they were going to have to walk.” said Lindsay Bernbaum of Westbury. “The people who had somewhere to be were freaking out and getting mad because the same recorded announcement kept coming on again and again.”
Bernbaum, who was in Manhattan Monday celebrating her 17th birthday, said the stuck train became hot and stuffy, despite the working air conditioner.
LIRR spokesman James Castle said the 4:19 train to Port Jefferson got stuck six minutes after leaving Penn Station. The train was a new double-decker model, and Castle said last night it was not yet known what caused the break down.
A replacement train left Penn Station at about 6:10 p.m. LIRR employees handed out bottles of water to the passengers as they boarded.
The incident resulted in 20-30 minutes delays to dozens of rush hour trains leaving Penn Monday evening. The terminal was even more jammed than usual, as commuters stood shoulder to shoulder waiting for their trains.
The break down was one of a string of snafus that stuck the commuter line Monday.
Earlier in the Monday, service on the Ronkonkoma Branch was halted as police investigated a suspected gas leak. Service was restored before 5 p.m.
Around noon, trains that pass through Jamaica Station experienced 30-minutes delays. Track signals were not getting enough power, but LIRR officials were not sure what caused the problem.