NEW YORK A train leaving New York Penn Station and heading for New Jersey derailed just minutes into its trip today morning, causing no injuries to its 300 passengers but setting off a domino effect of delays for thousands more that carries into the evening hours.
Midtown Direct train No. 6621, bound for Dover, derailed at about 10:50 a.m., just before entering the Hudson River rail tunnel. The cause of the derailment, which happened at a speed of less than 15 mph, was under investigation.
A text alert on the clevercommute.com website at 11:02 a.m. began innocuously enough.
"10:33 NWK to NY train waiting outside penn for last 15 min, disabled train in station ahead."
The next text arrived four minutes later.
"10:33 NWK to NY train stuck outside NYP conductor says could be half hour to hour delay. "
Within a half-hour, it became pretty obvious it was not going to be a good day for New Jersey commuters.
The derailed car blocked access to eight of the 12 tracks assigned to NJ Transit and Amtrak.
The 300 passengers were safely escorted back to the station.
At 11:35 a.m., this text came over clevercommute.com:
The derailed train left Manhattan at 10:45 a.m. and had been scheduled to arrive in Dover at 12:23 p.m.
Rail service into and out of New York Penn was subject to 60-minute delays for much of the day.
By late afternoon, NJ Transit had softened the message, telling customers to allow 20 to 30 minutes of additional travel time on the Northeast Corridor Line, North Jersey Coast Line and Midtown Direct service.
Midtown Direct trains continued to originate and terminate at Hoboken during the evening commute. PATH was cross-honoring between Hoboken and 33rd Street.
Due to the delays caused on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Lines, NJ Transit and private carrier buses were cross-honoring rail tickets and passes. Cross-honoring also was in effect with PATH from New York, Newark and Hoboken.
"To NJ Transit's credit, they seem to have a workable plan in place with cross-honoring announced well in advance of the evening rush," Clever Commute founder Josh Crandall said.
The delays came after one of the worst commuting summers in memory and during the same week Gov. Chris Christie was expected to decide the fate of the over-budget Hudson River train tunnel. The tunnel would double train capacity from New Jersey to midtown Manhattan, but the projected cost was at least $9.78 billion, more than $1 billion over budget.
Customers are encouraged to visit njtransit.com for updates on the train delays.
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