MANHATTAN — About 1,000 people on board LIRR train were stuck in an East River tunnel for about three hours Tuesday after power problems sparked a slew of cancelations and delays throughout every one of the rail's lines during the morning rush, officials said.
A 6:12 a.m. train from Babylon that was due in at 7:14 a.m. was stuck under the East River for hours until a relief train was dispatched to rescue it, officials said. The rescue train towed it to Hunterspoint Avenue in Long Island City about three hours after it was supposed to unload its passengers, officials said.
Similarly, about 1,000 people were aboard a 6:13 train from Massapequa Park that was due at Penn Station by 7:08 a.m., officials said. That train pulled in about 76 minutes late, officials said.
MTA police and LIRR staff gave water to the passengers who needed it, officials said.
The problems were caused by a third rail in a tunnel maintained by Amtrak, an MTA spokesman said. Amtrak officials said they were investigating the incident, but didn't provide further information.
Regular service resumed about noon, officials said.
Riders complained about the hellish ride to work and demanded repairs to the ailing transit system.
"The train was like 40 minutes late. It's usually less than an hour. This took double. It's frustrating. You can't count on it," said Anthony Auriemmo, 29, of Massapequa.
"They need to repair this. Every time there's a delay, they blame Amtrak or NJ Transit. There needs to be some accountability," Auriemmo added.
Penn Station has been plagued with problems recently, creating transit woes for the various rail lines that run through it, including the LIRR.
Officials plan to shut portions of Penn Station for six weeks in July and August with another outage in 2018 in order to do more repairs.
Governor Andrew Cuomo asked President Donald Trump to help fund this summer's repairs to the train hub in his hometown.
“I request that the federal government treat this as an emergency situation and provide funding for the short-term Penn construction and transportation alternatives and facilitation of a long-term resolution for Penn Station,” Cuomo wrote the president.
The repairs couldn't come soon enough for riders who were frustrated by Tuesday morning's train woes.
"We were packed in like sardines. It was like being packed in at a concert without the VIP tickets. ... It's usually like a 45 minute trip. This took an hour and a half," said Ian Thomas Minor, 33, of Freeport.
"It's annoying, but I guess there are worse things that could've happened. I mean, I woke up this morning. I'm highly blessed, highly stressed," Minor added.
