Major delays for rail passengers using New York City’s Penn Station

The second derailment in a week and a half at Penn Station jolted riders and crippled rail traffic Monday but didn’t cause any serious injuries.

The New Jersey Transit train, with about 1,200 passengers aboard, was pulling into the station at around 9 a.m. when the derailment occurred, leading to cancellations and delays that also affected riders on Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road.

The LIRR said it was braced for delays through its evening rush-hour because of limitations on track and platform space while repairs were being made.

NJ Transit

As a result of a derailment at Penn Station New York (PSNY) this morning, effective immediately and continuing until further notice, NJ TRANSIT will operate LIMITED SERVICE due to track constraints at PSNY. 

See revised train schedule for Penn Station

Tiffany Mazzone, a compliance officer who was commuting to Manhattan from Princeton, New Jersey, was standing near the door in the second-to-last car when she felt a “major jolt.”

“It felt like I was riding a skateboard,” she said.

She said some passengers fell and others who were seated at the time slammed into the seats in front of them.

The lights dimmed and the air was stifling; passengers got conflicting directions as they were herded back-and-forth inside the train, she said.

They couldn’t cross between cars. So rescuers led them out of that car, onto the tracks, then back into another car so they could walk through the train and onto the platform.

The process took over an hour, she said.

On March 24, an Amtrak Acela Express train bound for Washington partially derailed as it pulled out of Penn station and scraped the side of an arriving New Jersey Transit train. There also were no serious injuries in that derailment.