BREAKING: Major Power Outage Strands Thousands of Rail Commuters in Northeast Corrider
Amtrak has suspended service between Washington DC and NYC. The outage is also effecting NJ Transit trains which caused them to suspend all service on their heavily traveled Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines
A power outage stranded thousands of rush-hour commuters Thursday between New York and Washington, D.C., stopping five trains inside tunnels and forcing many passengers to get out and walk to the nearest station.Three NJ Transit trains and one Amtrak train were stuck in a tunnel under the Hudson River heading into New York. A fifth train was stuck in a rail tunnel in Baltimore.
No word yet on what caused the power outage or when things may be back online.
Read More: Amtrak, NJ Transit, Transportation
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I'm stuck on the 7am Acela out of DC (we're about 20 minutes south of Wilmington); power came back on about a half hour ago, though we're still not moving and there's no word when we will be. One train did just pass us heading south about 15 minutes ago, so there's some train activity, but I'm pretty sure that's only south of Wilmington...
posted on May 25, 2006 10:25 AM
Rick, where are you headed? Is Amtrak making any announcements? Are they giving you food or water?
posted on May 25, 2006 10:35 AM
James - Originally was supposed to be going as far as NYC. Latest update has the power restored to Philadelphia (we just pulled into Wilmington). The conductor and train staff have been good in communicating with us, but no offers of free food yet...
posted on May 25, 2006 10:50 AM
Well, now you're off the train, but do you have any pics of being stuck, or the crowds that you can send us?
Is there any chance you can refuse to get off the train until you get a complimentary bag of Combos?
posted on May 25, 2006 11:24 AM
Only picture so far is here of the 30th street station departure board. Just got back on a train heading south. No real crowds to speak of, no more than usual at least. My guess is that most are still on trains trying to get to where they're going, or left the stations when there was no clear indication of when things would clear up.
posted on May 25, 2006 11:46 AM
Thanks Rick, are they saying what caused the outage, do they know?
Also, any word on that bag of Combos? If you don't want them now you could always save them for later.
And for those of you reading this who don't know, Rick Klaus is the VP of Business Development at FeedBurner, and rumor has it that he loves Combos.
Thanks for the updates Rick, let us know if anything new happens. We'll keep checking out your blog too.
posted on May 25, 2006 11:52 AM
This happened to me once. I got stuck right in Sunnyside Station on the Friday after Thanksgiving three years ago or so.
We were stuck for 5 hours because of a downed power line.
Props to Rick!
posted on May 25, 2006 3:56 PM