After a tumultuous day of service disruptions, NJ Transit and Amtrak are slowly getting back on track with restored services following significant delays and cancellations that rippled through the commute of many between Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. The chaos, prompted by downed overhead wires near Newark, left passengers stranded and schedules in disarray, according to PIX11.
NJ Transit's woes were extensive nearly every route felt the impact of cancellations or limited service causing rerouting to Hoboken while PATH trains and NJ Transit buses honored the beleaguered tickets by the afternoon Amtrak chirped restoration of services between Philadelphia and New York, as mentioned by Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams and reported by Gothamist. Frustration among the commuters was palpable, as one rider, Karen, expressed to PIX11: “They’re all behind. They’re all canceled. It’s not clear if it’s an hour or all day or ever.”
Despite Amtrak's recovery, NJ Transit continued to face the ripple effects of the earlier disruptions. Afternoon alerts from NJ Transit warned of possible cancellations and delays along the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines; the exception being the Atlantic City line which appeared to elude the fray. The Raritan Valley line operations were condensed to originate and terminate at Newark Penn Station, temporarily pausing its traversal to Midtown Direct and no longer seeing redirection to Hoboken.
Amtrak's customers, having weathered a halt in service that transitioned to delays peaking at an hour, found a silver lining; the company pledged that affected passengers could board other trains with close departure times or push their travel to another day, sans additional fees, as Abrams explained they would be accommodated on other trains with similar departure times or could use their tickets another day, and would not incur extra charges for changing their reservations said passengers could breathe sigh of relief their itineraries not held ransom to the unforeseen service hiccup even as the cause of the overhead wire damage remains shrouded in investigative murk.
