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Power issues produce train delays at Grand Central Terminal
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Apr 13, 2023
Modified Apr 13, 2023
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Apr 13, 2023
Modified Apr 13, 2023
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A heat-related power issue in the Bronx caused significant delays across the Metro-North Railroad, officials said Thursday evening.
The Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines were delayed by 50 minutes or more during the evening rush, the agency said. The power issues hit two lines especially hard, causing delays of up to 90 minutes for New Haven riders and delays of up to 120 minutes on the Harlem line, Metro-North said.
Michael Kane was on a Metro-North train to the Yankees game packed with baseball fans that was continually delayed on the tracks before arriving at the station. He said they got on the train at 4 p.m. and weren't allowed off until after 8 p.m.
"They just kept repeating the same thing over and over again, 'There's a couple trains ahead of us, there's a couple trains ahead of us.' Then they never even went to Yankee Stadium," he said. "They ended up going to Harlem and rerouting everybody."
The wait became too much for some people, who according to Kane, decided to jump off into the tracks to get away. Those who stayed on didn't miss the game completely, but arrived an hour late, Kane said.
Luckily, the baseball loving crowd that remained on the train stayed calm, he said. The most frustrating part, Kane said, was the lack of information.
"In an airport this wouldn't be, they wouldn't stand for this and they have to do a better job of communicating with the passengers. I mean, they had some passengers on that train for four-plus hours," Kane said. "They need to let them know what's going on. There were times when we didn't move for 40, 45 minutes at a time."
Thursday brought unseasonably warm temperatures to New York City, resulting in the hottest April day in more than a decade for much of the New York region, according to the National Weather Service.
"Daily records were tied or broken at all 6 of our climate sites as temperatures soared 20-30 degrees above normal," the NWS tweeted Thursday.
Twitter user @sandorsays said they were stuck on their train heading out of Grand Central for more than two hours as of 7:45 p.m. Thursday.
"i am a prisoner of the metronorth. morale is low. why did i pay for this," the tweet said. "soon we will begin to deliberate on who to eat first."
Metro-North first started posting about the delays around 5 p.m. Thursday.
The setbacks left some commuters unaware of which track their trains might arrive on.
"Once the trains are no longer being held, the track numbers should appear," Metro-North said on Twitter.
Contributed reporting by Phil Corso.
Tagged
manhattan
transportation
the bronx
Catalina Gonella
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