A travel nightmare for commuters hit the Northeast Thursday after power issues related to a heat wave caused significant delays and shutdowns for New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains.
Problems with both transportation services plagued commuters and commuters at New York's Penn Station, the busiest transit hub in Western Hemisphere which sees over 600,000 passengers pass through each day.
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early friday morning NJ Transit told customers that rail service in and out New York's Penn Station was suspended due to “AMTRAK overhead wire issues” and that all tickets were being honored by NJ Transit buses and PATH Trains (a special train service that runs between Manhattan and parts of New Jersey, including Hoboken and Jersey City.
Around 10:45 a.m., NJ Transit said services had restarted but train schedules were subject to delays of 45 minutes.
The issues arose first after Amtrak reported one The power outage shortly before 2:45 p.m. Thursday warned passengers of possible delays between the New York Penn in Manhattan and Newark Penn Station in New Jersey. Hours later, Amtrak reported that service along the eastern corridor between New Haven, Connecticut, and Philadelphia was suspended as a result of power outages and an unrelated brush fire in New Jersey.
Early Friday morning, Amtrak too canceled two Acela trains. Commuters took to social media demanding refunds or answers for trains that were either canceled or significantly delayed.
Today is @Amtrak ride from hell – asked to leave our NE region in Trenton after being stuck for hours, now on a NJ Transit. No idea how we get from Newark to NYC since the trains aren't running. Customer service communications are terrible. How do we become complete about it?
— Geoffrey M (@geoffmartello) June 20, 2024
@Amtrak must refund all passengers aboard Northeast Regional 85. Approaching two hours on a stalled, stifling train. Very poor communication.
— Mary O. Taber (@maryotaber) June 20, 2024
@Amtrak there is no way to get a refund for my canceled train either on your website or through your call center. Will you give us our money back?
— Jenny Kroik (@jkroik) June 21, 2024
@NJTRANSIT You need to reimburse people for missing trains during the week in and out of NYC. You should also apologize, which I have yet to see. This week has been a nightmare and his handling has been less than ideal. You have to be reliable and you were low on that bar.
— Kassandra (@Kassy976) June 21, 2024
If hell on Earth exists, it's NJTransit during a heat wave
— nicole (@nicole68864160) June 20, 2024
The Northeast is currently experiencing an extreme heat wave, with temperatures in the mid-90s, which can cause power line to hang.
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The root cause of the problem was a broken circuit breaker that caused power outages on various train tracks, Amtrak said.
This is a developing story.