Amtrak Loses Power in Northeast Corridor, Stranding Thousands During Rush Hour

An Amtrak power failure during the morning rush hour Thursday brought dozens of trains to a screeching halt along the bustling Northeast Corridor, stranding thousands of passengers for hours.

Many passengers were stuck at Penn Station; others were trapped aboard trains without lights or air conditioning.

“We’re trying to be patient, but this is frustrating,” said Lisa Epstein of Brooklyn, whose 8:30 a.m. Amtrak train to Springfield, Mass., was delayed more than three hours.

Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero said the railway did not know the cause or exact location of the outage. The corridor connecting Washington, New York and Boston serves tens of thousands of riders daily.

Transit officials said uninterrupted rail service was expected today.

“Regular service on all lines will continue throughout the weekend,” said Erin Phalon, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Throughout the morning, a giant departure sign at Penn Station said “delayed” beside every posted Amtrak train.

“If they could just tell us something, we could work around the delays,” said Anthony Sharwood, 36, of Sydney, Australia, who was in New York on business.

The outage affected not only the federally subsidized passenger railroad but also commuter lines in New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Many passengers simply got out of stuck rail cars and walked to the next station.

Amtrak officials were reviewing electronic logs to identify the sequence of events to determine what happened, said Amtrak acting President David Hughes.

“If there was ever proof that Amtrak is being terribly mismanaged with unqualified people at the helm, this power outage at the height of the morning rush hour is it,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“This outage quite literally stopped thousands in their tracks, and for a rail service that so many people rely on, this is unacceptable.”

Amtrak officials declined to respond to the criticism.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.