Derailment To Hamstring Morning Commute For Metro-North Hudson Line Customers
Updated at 12:13 a.m., July 19, 2013
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Commuters who rely on the Metro-North Hudson line will likely have to find a different way to get to work Friday morning.
A freight train derailment in the Bronx forced service on the Hudson line to be suspended indefinitely, the transit agency announced Thursday night.
Trains were again operating north and south of the incident as of 11 p.m., and shuttle bus service was operating between the Riverdale and Marble Hill stations, Metro-North announced late Thursday.
Spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said 10 of the freight train's 24 cars derailed around 8:40 p.m. Thursday between the Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale stations. The train was moving garbage from New York City.
LINK: Metro-North | Traffic & Transit
As CBS 2's Derricke Dennis reported, there was confusion for commuters stranded on the Metro-North Hudson Line on Thursday night. They were forced out of the Marble Hill station in the Bronx and told to wait for buses.
"It's not clear at all on where we need to go or what we need to do," Poughkeepsie resident Pauline Moore told Dennis. "One officer said there's a bus that goes to Poughkeepsie. I said where's that bus? I don't know of any bus that goes from here to Poughkeepsie."
"We're all waiting to find out how we can get home," commuter Barry Donaldson told Dennis.
Metro-North is urging customers to take the Harlem line for the Friday morning commute. Hudson line tickets will be cross-honored on the Harlem line.
According to the transit agency, 18,000 passengers use the Hudson line during the morning rush.
Authorities said clearing the rails will take hours. Every car has to be hoisted off the tracks by crane, and then the tracks will have to be inspected before Metro-North can finally move again.
The area where the derailment occurred has just one track in each direction.
Anders said the tracks in that section of the railroad were fouled. No trains were stranded because of the service suspension.
The Hudson line runs from Manhattan to Poughkeepsie, about 80 miles north.
There were no reports of injuries.
Stay with CBSNewYork.com for more on this developing story...
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
