Busiest transit hub in U.S. rocked by days of delays amid heat wave

Extreme heat adds to commuter agony as Amtrak and New Jersey Transit deal with strained infrastructure, malfunctions and mechanical problems.

Extreme heat coupled with strained infrastructure, malfunctions and mechanical problems on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit brought agony and massive delays for tens of thousands of commuters throughout the Northeast this week.

Rail service between New Jersey and New York’s Penn Station was suspended Thursday before the evening commute and again on Friday morning, with New Jersey Transit citing “AMTRAK overhead wire issues.”

While the root cause of the disruptions is still being investigated, they hit during some of the hottest days of the year so far, lengthening commutes amid an early-summer heat wave.

“Unfortunately, a unique combination of events recently caused major delays in the New York area, affecting travel along a significant section of the Northeast Corridor,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said in a statement Friday.

Harris added that on Thursday, a circuit breaker that powers the trains “experienced a catastrophic failure on one of the hottest days of the year and a serious brush fire also came close to our tracks.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/busiest-transit-hub-delays-heat-wave-rcna158318

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