Northeast Rail Power Outage
This story brought back my commuting memories. What a horror show.
An outage or some other unforseen circumstance always happens on the hottest day, or the Friday before a long weekend.
I'm surprised it happened during the week.
Stuck in the tunnels on trains.
Yuch.
I got stuck once, but not in the tunnel, on the rails. And I had to do what it says in the article - walk from North Elizabeth to the Elizabeth station where my car was parked.
A bottle of witch hazel, which I always carried with me in the summertime, saved my life.
You're not dressed for a hike, you're dressed for work.
Northeast rail resumes after power outage
Five commuter trains shut down inside Hudson River, Baltimore tunnels
NEWARK, N.J. - A major power outage stranded thousands of rush-hour commuters Thursday between New York and Washington, stopping trains inside sweltering tunnels and forcing many passengers to get out and walk.
Power was restored throughout the heavily traveled corridor at about 10:30 a.m. ET, more than two hours after outage, Amtrak said.
The outage stranded five trains in tunnels — one in Baltimore and four under the Hudson River heading into New York. They all been removed, Amtrak said.
Joe Piasecki of Washington Crossing, Pa. was among 100 passengers who climbed down out of a stalled train near Elizabeth, N.J. to walk nearly a mile to the nearest station.
“It’s a kind of eerie, end-of-the-world feel,” said Piasecki, who boarded the train in Trenton. “You have these two trains sitting here dead, not moving. You can’t see any cars or anything else moving.”
Mike Kenny of West Windsor has been commuting to Manhattan for 30 years and said the outage was “shaping up as one of the worst ever.”
“It’s getting pretty hot in here, and the bathroom is getting backed up,” he said.
Train crews offered passengers the option of getting off and walking about a quarter-mile to the nearest station in North Elizabeth.
“I’ve got a bum foot, and I’m wearing a boot on it, but I’ll do it,” Kenny said. “I’m ready to call it quits and go home.”
Larry Willis, 63, of Upper Marlboro, Md., said he and other passengers were stuck in the dark for about 45 minutes in a Baltimore tunnel.
Passengers remained quiet during the outage but there was “a lot of frustration,” said Willis, who had been traveling to Newark, N.J., to catch a flight to Tel Aviv, Israel.
Birthday blessing?
Krista Barry spent the morning of her 23rd birthday sitting on the floor of a sweltering NJ Transit car, reading a book for more than 90 minutes.
“Everyone is calling me on my cell and saying, ’Uh, happy birthday; too bad you’re stuck,”’ said Barry, who boarded the train in Trenton bound for her job as an office temp in Manhattan. “At least I get to relax and not go to work.”
In New York, John McAlonan planned to catch an 8 a.m. Amtrak train from Penn Station to Philadelphia. He sat on the train for an hour but then gave up when it failed to leave the station.
“The lights went out three times and then they just stayed off,” McAlonan said.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
.......
I may be complaining about my current situation, but B'H I ain't a commuter no more.
.....
Peace
\ /
An outage or some other unforseen circumstance always happens on the hottest day, or the Friday before a long weekend.
I'm surprised it happened during the week.
Stuck in the tunnels on trains.
Yuch.
I got stuck once, but not in the tunnel, on the rails. And I had to do what it says in the article - walk from North Elizabeth to the Elizabeth station where my car was parked.
A bottle of witch hazel, which I always carried with me in the summertime, saved my life.
You're not dressed for a hike, you're dressed for work.
Northeast rail resumes after power outage
Five commuter trains shut down inside Hudson River, Baltimore tunnels
NEWARK, N.J. - A major power outage stranded thousands of rush-hour commuters Thursday between New York and Washington, stopping trains inside sweltering tunnels and forcing many passengers to get out and walk.
Power was restored throughout the heavily traveled corridor at about 10:30 a.m. ET, more than two hours after outage, Amtrak said.
The outage stranded five trains in tunnels — one in Baltimore and four under the Hudson River heading into New York. They all been removed, Amtrak said.
Joe Piasecki of Washington Crossing, Pa. was among 100 passengers who climbed down out of a stalled train near Elizabeth, N.J. to walk nearly a mile to the nearest station.
“It’s a kind of eerie, end-of-the-world feel,” said Piasecki, who boarded the train in Trenton. “You have these two trains sitting here dead, not moving. You can’t see any cars or anything else moving.”
Mike Kenny of West Windsor has been commuting to Manhattan for 30 years and said the outage was “shaping up as one of the worst ever.”
“It’s getting pretty hot in here, and the bathroom is getting backed up,” he said.
Train crews offered passengers the option of getting off and walking about a quarter-mile to the nearest station in North Elizabeth.
“I’ve got a bum foot, and I’m wearing a boot on it, but I’ll do it,” Kenny said. “I’m ready to call it quits and go home.”
Larry Willis, 63, of Upper Marlboro, Md., said he and other passengers were stuck in the dark for about 45 minutes in a Baltimore tunnel.
Passengers remained quiet during the outage but there was “a lot of frustration,” said Willis, who had been traveling to Newark, N.J., to catch a flight to Tel Aviv, Israel.
Birthday blessing?
Krista Barry spent the morning of her 23rd birthday sitting on the floor of a sweltering NJ Transit car, reading a book for more than 90 minutes.
“Everyone is calling me on my cell and saying, ’Uh, happy birthday; too bad you’re stuck,”’ said Barry, who boarded the train in Trenton bound for her job as an office temp in Manhattan. “At least I get to relax and not go to work.”
In New York, John McAlonan planned to catch an 8 a.m. Amtrak train from Penn Station to Philadelphia. He sat on the train for an hour but then gave up when it failed to leave the station.
“The lights went out three times and then they just stayed off,” McAlonan said.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
.......
I may be complaining about my current situation, but B'H I ain't a commuter no more.
.....
Peace
\ /
posted by VickeB | 2:34 PM
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