LIRR Evacuates Nearly 900 in Rush Hour Tunnel Disruption
Nearly 900 LIRR riders were evacuated during rush hour Wednesday after a train struck metal debris in an East River rail tunnel and became stranded. The incident forced cancellations and diversions on Long Island Rail Road service headed to Penn Station and Grand Central Madison.
Rob Free on the tunnel hit
LIRR president Rob Free said the railroad is investigating why the debris was on the tracks. “After the [NJ Transit] train had cleared, one of our passenger trains operated through the tunnel and struck some form of debris,” he said.
Free also said, “I don't know where it came from, and I'm not saying it's from this New Jersey transit train.” He added, “All I can say is right now that we hit a piece of metal debris down in the tunnel, but we're still assessing the damage to the infrastructure of the train.”
East River tunnel evacuations
FDNY, Amtrak police and EMS personnel evacuated the stranded passengers using two rescue trains. The east end of the train was evacuated and passengers climbed aboard another train called into the tunnel. Passengers in the west cars were taken to Penn Station, and the rest of the cars were removed from the tunnel. No injuries were reported.
One of the four East River tunnels was out of service after the incident. Another tunnel remained out of service while Amtrak carried out a three-year, $1.6 billion rehabilitation effort on two 116-year-old tunnels damaged in Superstorm Sandy. Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said “only a handful of incidents like this have occurred” since the project began a year ago.
Morning commute delays
Many LIRR trains to Penn Station were canceled or diverted to Grand Central Madison after the tunnel became blocked. By midday Wednesday, service had returned close to normal, and by early afternoon most trains were running close to schedule.
Free said Amtrak was assessing the damage and that a final assessment was needed to determine whether there would be any impacts to the afternoon rush hour. “We'll let everyone know once that happened,” he said. “But again, it's still under investigation. We're not sure where the debris came from.”
