NJ Transit Crew Running Red Light Revealed As Reason For Thursday Night Delays
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - After a messy commute Thursday night for NJ Transit riders, it turns out the hours of delays out of Penn Station were caused by a train crew bypassing a red light.
Commuters were told their train home was late because of signal issues, reports CBS2's Ali Bauman.
George McGuire was in the evening mess, describing wall-to-wall crowds in Penn Station for hours.
At least five trains stacked up outside the tunnel and passengers could almost see the light on their way out of Penn before they were forced to disembark through the last car and walk back on the platform.
"They just said it was signal problems, so they don't actually tell you what's going on," said McGuire.
As a result, transit personnel had to stop the train and investigate why, and who, was responsible for the stop signal violation.
That whole process was causing even more delays which any regular commuter could have seen coming.
"Anything after 4:30, it starts like a domino effect," said commuter Lunda Walczyk.
"People lined up on the hallways in the aisles, you never know what's gonna happen if there's something wrong," said commuter Joe Antonetti.
The crew that ran the light has been taken out of service while NJ Transit investigates.
"It's just more incompetence," said McGuire.
An NJ Transit spokesman tell CBS2 the conductor and engineer who were running that train are both experienced employees, but would not specify how many years of experience they have.
