A major power outage halted train service between New York City and Washington on Thursday, stopping trains inside tunnels and forcing many passengers to walk to the nearest station. The outage occurred during morning rush hour, stranding thousands of commuters on some of the most heavily traveled lines in the U.S. rail system. The outage happened at 8:00am (1200 GMT) along Amtrak's northeast corridor line, affecting trains from Washington all the way to New York City's Queens borough. The cause of the outage remained under investigation, officials said. Amtrak, the government-funded passenger rail company, said electric power had been restored between Washington and Perryville, Maryland, about 64 kilometers north of Baltimore. The remainder of the route north to New York City remained without power, Amtrak said. Full trains running on electric lines went dark and came to a halt, leading to evacuations, passengers told local and national media. CNN television showed video of passengers being evacuated from a train stalled on the tracks in New Jersey. At least five trains were stuck in tunnels in New York City and Baltimore, Amtrak said in a statement. “Amtrak's first priority is to use diesel locomotives to remove several trains from tunnels in New York and Baltimore,” it said. New Jersey Transit said the outage halted its two most heavily traveled lines, which move 70,000 passengers per weekday, and some trains destined for midtown Manhattan have been diverted to Hoboken, New Jersey, just outside of New York City.
