Amtrak Power Failure Disrupts Rail Travel Service Between New Jersey and Philadelphia – Travel And Tour World

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Amtrak power failure halts rail travel between New Jersey and Philadelphia, disrupting thousands of commutes during the busy rush hour.

Rail service between New Haven and Philadelphia, along with New Jersey Transit commuter lines, has been halted as crews address an issue with overhead power, leading to significant rush-hour delays. This disruption marks the second such occurrence this week.

According to Amtrak officials, the problem stems from a faulty circuit breaker that has caused power outages on the tracks between New York Penn Station and Newark Union Station, affecting all rail services between Philadelphia 30th Street Station and New Haven Union Station. These services are on hold indefinitely.

This suspension follows closely behind a recent incident where overhead wire complications led to delays of up to 90 minutes, and a separate incident left a train inoperable, further complicating morning travel.

The relationship between NJ Transit and Amtrak has been strained, as NJ Transit relies on tracks owned and maintained by Amtrak.

The congested rail route across the US East Coast experiences a bottleneck at the Hudson River, which separates New York and New Jersey. Both NJ Transit and Amtrak trains share a single, old tunnel for entering and exiting Manhattan, making any disruption in this area particularly problematic.

To address these issues, a proposed $16 billion rail tunnel project, dubbed the Gateway project, aims to create a new link between the two states. This project recently moved forward with a federal full funding agreement of $6.88 billion, signaling a potential future alleviation of these recurrent delays.