Thousands Of Metro-North Riders Stranded For 2 Hours
IRVINGTON, N.Y. (1010 WINS/ AP) -- Thousands of Metro-North Railroad riders were stranded during the Friday morning rush hour while police investigated a suspicious package on the tracks in Westchester County.
Railroad spokesman Dan Brucker says police halted train traffic after an engineer spotted the package around 8:30 a.m. Friday on the Hudson Line in Irvington.
Service was restored about two hours later with delays of up to an hour. The line serves about 25,000 customers on an average weekday.
Brucker estimated that , "well over 10,000'' customers had either been stuck on trains, or could not get train service.
"A train heading to New York City was passing by the Irvington station when the engineer saw a suspicious package on the tracks,'' said Brucker. "He correctly and immediately stopped his train and radioed in to the operations control center.''
The engineer was ordered to back up. Police stopped other trains in the area and also evacuated the Irvington station.
A few trains were able to make it to stations north and south of Irvington so that those passengers could get off if they wished, said Brucker. There are restrooms aboard the trains, and many people used cell phones to let their bosses know they would be late for work.
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