Power Failure Brings Amtrak and N.J. Transit Trains to a Halt

Train service along the Northeast Corridor remained disrupted early Friday, with more than half dozen trains canceled and delays expected, after a power failure shut down all lines for more than three hours on Thursday and caused significant holdups in and out of the nation’s busiest transit hub.

Amtrak said that on Thursday, one of the hottest days of the year, the loss of electricity had forced it to suspend all service along that 150-mile stretch of rails, which passes through Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, at about 2:10 p.m. After repairs, service was partly restored around 5:30 p.m.

The disruption rippled along the Eastern Seaboard, causing trains to be halted and canceled as far away as Boston and Harrisburg, Pa. The aftereffects appeared to continue into Friday morning’s commute, with two Acela trains and four Northeast Regional trains scheduled for as early as 4:50 a.m. canceled because of the earlier disruptions, according to Amtrak. As of 5.a.m., one other regional train in Connecticut was also canceled because of equipment issues, Amtrak said, with buses provided as a replacement.

Service on Friday was otherwise restored between Philadelphia and New Haven, but Amtrak warned that passengers could experience “significant residual delays.” Rail service in and out of New York’s Penn Station was operating “on or close to schedule,” New Jersey Transit said after Thursday’s disruptions.

Gery Williams, an executive vice president of Amtrak, said the problem emanated from “a malfunctioning circuit-breaker” in New Jersey, just west of the rail tunnels under the Hudson River, which cut electricity to the overhead wires that power trains into and out of the tunnels. That segment of the corridor has just two tracks and is the primary bottleneck for train travel in the Northeast. Any disruptions to that narrow passage can mean headaches for thousands of travelers.

Mr. Williams said the electrical problem was not related to a brush fire in Secaucus, N.J., on Thursday afternoon that was burning near train tracks and the New Jersey Turnpike. That fire was extinguished by Thursday evening.