New Jersey Transit apologizes for string of issues, calls service 'unacceptable'

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- For the third day in a row, riders who rely on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit faced a nightmare commute getting into and out of New York City.

"There is a problem every day," one commuter said. "They're late all the time. They blame Amtrak."

In all fairness, Amtrak is technically to the blame for shutting down all trains in and out of New York Penn Station for a about an hour Wednesday morning, as well as the 60- to 90-minute delays that followed.

NJ Transit trains in and out of Penn Station operate on Amtrak tracks, and there are only two of them under the Hudson River to handle the volume for both carriers. So when an overhead wire on the south tube went out around 5:40 a.m., the morning commute was a wash.

The power outage affected both tubes of the 105-year-old Hudson River Tunnel, some station tracks and portions of Sunnyside Yard in Queens, Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz said in an email. The problem persisted in the south tube, meaning trains had only one track available. Power was restored by 7:45 a.m., but NJ Transit rail riders still faced the heavy delays.

"This is like a constant thing with the service for NJ Transit," another commuter said. "I don't know if it's them or if it's Amtrak, or what's going on with the tracks, the signal problems. It makes no sense. And then it costs a million dollars for a monthly pass, so what are you supposed to do? Stand here and wait? You can't go home."

In a written statement, the executive director of NJ Transit wrote, "These past few days of crippling power outages on the Northeast Corridor are unacceptable. NJ Transit pays Amtrak approximately $100 million annually towards keeping the Northeast Corridor running, and we have requested of Amtrak to know if our money is truly going towards ensuring reliable rail service for our customers."

There were delays on the Northeast Corridor on Tuesday when a signal problem in the Princeton area slowed trains, and a disabled train in one of the tunnels and overhead wire troubles caused delays in and out of Penn Station during Monday night, when the heat and humidity made it feel like it was over 100 degrees in parts of the New York metropolitan area.

Commuters were already stewing after NJ Transit's board on July 15 approved raising fares for bus and rail riders by about 9 percent starting in October.