Repeated power problems brought rail traffic to a halt Wednesday afternoon at New York Penn Station, causing brutal delays for homeward bound NJ Transit and Amtrak commuters.
FDNY officials confirmed that at one point Wednesday morning there were three trains stuck in the Hudson River tunnels in New Jersey with no power. Passengers aboard the stranded trains complained of stale air and stifling heat.
An overhead power issue reportedly stopped train traffic between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Another issue after noon stopped trains for about 15 minutes.
A separate and possibly unrelated transformer issue also caused delays Wednesday.
As the afternoon rush approached NJ Transit warned commuters of the potential of hour-long delays on Northeast Corridor and NJ Coast lines. Amtrak warned of two-hour delays.
But 4:30, NJ Transit was no longer reporting delays and that trains were on or close to schedule. Amtrak still reported several delays.
By 5 p.m. the majority of Amtrak trains were running on time.
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