WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Limited passenger train
services will resume along the U.S. East Coast on Wednesday as
transportation slowly returns to normal after Hurricane Sandy,
but flooding in tunnels is still blocking access to New York
City, Amtrak said on Tuesday.
Services provided by rail company Amtrak along the busy
Northeast corridor were suspended on Monday as the storm hit the
eastern United States, flooding tracks and roads, felling trees
and power lines.
Amtrak said it would provide modified Northeast regional
services south from Newark in New Jersey from Wednesday. Routes
would include a Virginia service, trains between Harrisburg and
Philadelphia, and services between Boston, Portland and Maine.
There will still be no service between New York and Boston
and no Acela Express service for the length of the Northeast
Corridor.
Amtrak said that, along with other tunnel owners and
operators in New York City, it was still removing water and
repairing track, signal and power systems within its tunnels
under the Hudson and East Rivers surrounding Manhattan.
“The amount of water intrusion into the tunnels is
unprecedented – as was the storm itself – so a date for
restoration of Amtrak service directly to/from New York Penn
Station from either the north or south is not available at this
time,” Amtrak said in a statement.
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Sandra Maler)
