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Amtrak and NJ Transit Service Resumes Out of Penn Station

By DNAinfo Staff on December 1, 2010 12:43pm  | Updated on December 1, 2010 4:45pm

By Jennifer Glickel, Yepoka Yeebo and Jordan Heller

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

PENN STATION — Amtrak and NJ Transit trains coming in and out of Penn Station started to slowly get back on track Wednesday afternoon, but more than two hours of suspended service earlier in the day was expected to snarl evening commutes.

As of 4:30 p.m., NJ Transit commuters were experiencing delays of up to 20 minutes and while Amtrak was back on schedule, a number of customers who missed their connections were scrambling to get rerouted.

Wire problems near the Hunts Point section of the Bronx and in Newark, NJ, were fixed as of 2:30 p.m., according to Amtrak, but a spokesperson warned that passengers should expect residual delays.

Trains coming from New Jersey have been halted just short of Penn Station.
Trains coming from New Jersey have been halted just short of Penn Station.
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Flickr / Joe Shlabotnik

While NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor and New Jersey Coast Line trains had resumed service, Midtown Direct customers were being directed to take the PATH.

Earlier in the day, Minda Alena, 39, of Princeton, N.J., fretted at Penn Station over how she would get home in time to pick up her 3-year-old daughter.

"She has to be picked up at 3 p.m. and there's no way I'll make it home in time," she said. "It's a huge inconvenience, but this always seems to happen when it rains."

Eileen Corso, 62, of Lake Ronkonkoma, was going to take an Amtrak train to Philadelphia to visit her daughter and twin grandsons, but instead was stuck at Penn Station for two hours.

"This happened last time I was going to visit her," she said. "My husband told me to check the weather channel from now on."

Chris Mazza, 39, of Brooklyn, who was trying to make his way to Washington, D.C., took a more Zen approach.

"All you can do is be calm unless you want to raise your blood pressure, so I've been waiting patiently since 11 a.m.," he said.