Amtrak Train Breaks Down While Pulling Out Of Penn Station
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An Amtrak train broke down in the Hudson River tunnel while leaving Penn Station Sunday.
Amtrak said Empire Service train No. 233 to Albany became disabled sometime around noon while pulling out of Penn Station.
A total of 238 passengers were on board awaiting a rescue train to pull it back to the station early Sunday afternoon, Amtrak said.
There were no injuries.
Amtrak confirmed the train fell victim to engine failure, CBS2's Dave Carlin reported. Passengers said the lights on the train flickered and stopped.
"How long is this going to last? Was the big, the big worry," said Upper West Side resident Frank Von Zerneck, who was traveling with his wife, Julie.
"We got halfway through the tunnel," Julie said.
"And it just stopped dead," Frank added.
The engine trouble meant no air conditioning and limited lighting.
"There was no Internet coming in, no service," Julie said. "We couldn't catch our breath after a while, so then we started to get annoyed... it was really hot."
Anthony Cavalieri, 12, was traveling with his family. He told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell he heard "screeches on the tracks."
"I didn't know what was happening on the tracks," Anthony said.
Antoinette Hedge was also on board.
"We were sitting for an hour before a rescue train drove us back to the station," she said.
She called the experience "boring, hot and uncomfortable."
Passengers also complained about the breakdown on Twitter.
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Passengers were later returned to Penn Station. The train was to reboard and leave again at 2:33 p.m.
"The lovely conductor woman said they're sending a rescue engine to pull us back to the station, and there was applause," Frank said.
Unfortunately, the Von Zernecks missed their meeting with a real estate agent in upstate New York.
"We'll go another weekend," Frank said.
While the train was stuck, Amtrak confirms it briefly struggled with unrelated signal problems, delaying other trains, and not just Amtrak ones, Carlin reported.
"There was a train waiting. After he went, then we could go, but we were an hour and a half sitting there," said Kathy Scutro, of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey.
The breakdown coincidentally happened just after U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer held a news conference at Penn Station, calling for major improvements in coordination, training and staffing following a recent stampede.
A false alarm that set off the stampede a week ago Friday. First, a disabled NJ TRANSIT train led to widespread delays and left the train depot packed and crammed.
Then, as frustrated passengers crowded the platforms, Amtrak police used a Taser on a suspect, which some people mistook for the sound of gunshots.
Terrified travelers ran in fear for their lives, leaving behind luggage, clothing and even shoes. As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported last week, at least 16 people were injured as they fled what they thought was a terrorist attack.
Schumer said improvements are mandated at Penn Station following the incident. He said the panic and stampede revealed "across-the-board flaws, poor coordination, poor staffing and vulnerabilities in law enforcement's security procedures that endanger the commuting public."
Schumer called for coordinated security systems, command centers, and training exercises that he said would be critical to improving safety at the depot.
