(The following article by Joe Malinconico and Guy Sterling was posted on the Newark Star-Ledger website on October 4.)
NEWARK, N.J. — Routine tree-trimming by an Amtrak maintenance crew set in motion a chain of events that ended with a power failure at the peak of yesterday morning’s rush hour, stalling 100 NJ Transit trains carrying about 70,000 commuters.
The mishap left New Jersey transportation officials befuddled by Amtrak’s decision to cut tree branches during the morning peak, putting at risk the power system that feeds the busiest stretch of railroad in the country.
“This is just not acceptable,” said New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri. “This is akin to us going out during the rush hour and shutting down two lanes of a highway to do routine maintenance.”
Amtrak officials quickly issued a statement saying they would temporarily suspend tree-trimming work during rush hour until after they completed a review of yesterday’s incident.
The problems stemmed from Amtrak’s decision yesterday to shut down two of the four power lines on the Northeast Corridor to allow crews to cut branches hanging near the rails in Pennsylvania.
But then there was a break in the third power line somewhere in New Jersey — an accident unrelated to the tree-trimming — that left only one electric line in service, according to a statement issued by Amtrak.
“The fourth line was unable to handle the power of the two lines, tripping circuit breakers at approximately 7:20 a.m.,” said the Amtrak statement.
Up and down the Northeast Corridor, which is owned by Amtrak and handles rail traffic for NJ Transit along with Amtrak, trains began losing power and eventually came rolling to a stop.
Railroad dispatchers then instructed engineers to disengage their pantographs, which are the metals arms that connect the trains to overhead power wires. That maneuver eventually allowed them to use the limited power that was still available and send the trains one at a time to the nearest station.
Meanwhile, Amtrak had halted the tree-trimming to restore power to the two lines that had been shut down for maintenance and the system returned to full power by 8:24 a.m.
But tens of thousands of commuters started the day with agonizing delays that lasted for as long as 90 minutes. Some waited for trains that ended up being canceled. Others sat on stalled passenger cars.
In some cases, trains using the limited power that was available were rerouted, and ended up bypassing stations where some commuters had planned to get off. Many who knew about the rail problems hit the highways instead, causing jams there.
But the inconveniences did not match the chaos that occurred five months ago when a massive electrical failure crippled Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor tracks from Washington, D.C., to Boston.
Still, commuters were unhappy, yesterday. Sheri Graham of Highlands left the Red Bank NJ Transit station on a local train on the way to her job in Linden. Around Avenel, passengers were told the train would not be making local stops and would go straight to Newark instead, she said.
“I was stranded in Newark,” she said.
Graham complained that NJ Transit should have told passengers the train wasn’t going to be making any more local stops before closing the doors and going to Newark.
Lou Pisillo of Byram Township was planning on taking Amtrak’s 8:15 a.m. Acela Express from Newark to attend an 11 a.m. business meeting in Baltimore. He managed to have the meeting pushed back until the afternoon.
“But I’d be hesitant to do this again,” he said of taking the train. “If I’d left home this morning and driven, I would have been there in plenty of time.”
The shutdown marked the fourth time in the past five months that Amtrak’s power systems broke down, causing massive delays.
Rail advocates pointed out that the federal railroad is severely underfunded. Even an incident like yesterday’s, they said, can be attributed to the Amtrak’s financial constraints.
“When you’re dealing with something like Amtrak, it always comes back to money,” said Damien Newton, New Jersey coordinator of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “The longer they go without someone stepping up with the funding they need, then these kind of things are going to keep happening more often.”