NJ Transit Delays Continue after Power Outage Leaves1,500 Passengers Stranded

Delays continued Thursday afternoon after an electrical problem left about 1,500 New Jersey Transit commuters stranded for nearly three hours on the busy rail line.

It was unclear if the evening commute would be affected by the delays.

The Hudson River tunnel lost power around 9 a.m. EDT and four NJ Transit trains were initially stranded. Two were later removed, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole told The Associated Press.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the delay, but they believe it was a problem related to a transformer.

The passengers were stuck in the tunnel for hours as the delays mounted during the heavy morning commute into New York City.

Passenger Jason Uechi was on the 8:20 a.m. train from Montclair, N.J. He was stuck on the train for more than two hours and said the lights were on in the car, but the air conditioning wasn't working.

Like any incident in New York, it takes this kind of thing to make people talk, he told Transportation Nation, noting passengers were calm and even shared electronic devices. We were quick to crack jokes about getting rescued and all those kinds of things.

Passengers said the crew were very helpful and acted quickly to inform passengers about what was happening.

Thursday morning commuters were delayed up to 80 minutes both in and out of New York City.

PATH, the rapid transit link between Manhattan and points in New Jersey, began accepting NJ Transit tickets and passes to help with the backlog.

By midday, New Jersey Transit said that they were experiencing 45 to 60 minute delays in and out of the city.

Officials have been trying to figure out how to build another trans-Hudson tunnel for some time. In a bill approved Wednesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee, Amtrak will receive $15 million for preliminary engineering of two new Hudson River tunnels next year.