03/14/10

Congressional Investigation, Fines

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Transit officials say 500 passengers have been stranded on a New Jersey Transit northbound train for more than five hours because of flooding on the tracks from a powerful storm.

NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett says the New York-bound train became stuck before reaching the Rahway station along the Northeast Corridor line. She says emergency workers were unable to reach the train.

She says police have boarded the train, and NJ Transit was to send a diesel engine to transport the commuters to the Rahway station, where busses would meet them.

The storm also knocked out power to more than 165,000 customers across the state.

The Northeast Corridor tracks are operated by Amtrak and power outages have stopped Amtrak service between Philadelphia and New York.

The train had electricity for about two hours, but then lost power. Travelers were stuck without power or heat for another three hours, said Bassett Hackett.

People were kept on the train for safety reasons, as the train was stopped at a location that was not easily accessible, Bassett Hackett said.

A diesel engine was sent out to pull the train to the Rahway station and the train finally got moving around 10:30 p.m.

As of this evening, train service was suspended on the following lines: Northeast Corridor; North Jersey Coast; Atlantic City; Raritan Valley; and Montclair-Booton lines. On the Morris & Essex, service was suspended west of the Summit station.

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In Washington, Shrieker of the House Nancy Pelosi promised an investigation into why NJ Transit left its passengers stranded for five hours and promised that the company would be heavily fined and then taken over by the government.

Congressional Investigators fly to New Jersey