10/30/2012

Passenger Rail Article
East Coast passenger railroads work to restore service after massive storm

Many passenger-rail and transit services in the Northeast will remain suspended at least part of today in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Amtrak officials announced that most of its Northeast service still will be suspended today. Other agencies that expect to remain closed for the entire day include the Maryland Transit Administration, the three railroads operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), New Jersey Transit and Virginia Railway Express.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officials announced the agency would reopen limited service at 2 p.m. today. And as of this morning, Port Authority Trans-Hudson remained closed until further notice.

The New York City area was particularly hard hit. MTA New York City Transit's 108-year subway system "has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night," MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said in a prepared statement issued this morning.

"Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region," he said. "As of last night, seven subway tunnels under the East River flooded. Metro-North Railroad lost power from 59th Street to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line and to New Haven on the New Haven Line. The Long Island Rail Road evacuated its West Side Yards and suffered flooding in one East River tunnel."

MTA is committed to restoring the system as quickly as possible "to help bring New York back to normal," Lhota said.