“Everyone’s probably used to it at this point, but it’s still frustrating.” “I’m not happy,” he said, glancing nervously at his watch. The pain was compounded by a New Jersey Transit board vote last week to approve a fare increase of about 9 percent that will take effect in October.Ī salesman from Allenhurst, N.J., named Ken, did not want to give his last name, hoping nobody at his office would notice the hour-plus delay. Foxx said, adding he had not yet seen significant momentum.Ī chorus of grumbles and moans rose from Pennsylvania Station on Wednesday as commuters described the family events, sightseeing excursions and meetings they were late for. “I think that everybody at the state level is saying positive things, but we need to get down to brass tacks,” Mr. He said in an interview that he needed help from elected leaders in New York and New Jersey before it was too late. Foxx, the transportation secretary, said at a conference on Tuesday that the proposal to build new rail tunnels, known as the Gateway project, was “one of the - if not the - most important projects in the country right now that’s not happening.” In response, Amtrak issued a statement saying, “We apologize to all who are affected by these delays.” The agency, which is in the process of upgrading signal and catenary systems on a 23-mile section of railroad from Trenton to New Brunswick, said such delays “stem from long-term underinvestment in the Northeast Corridor.”įederal officials, local elected leaders and commuters alike said they were losing patience with efforts to reduce strain on the tunnels, which are 105 years old and which Amtrak has said will need to be temporarily closed to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy. Transit pays Amtrak approximately $100 million annually toward keeping the Northeast Corridor running, and we have requested of Amtrak to know if our money is truly going toward ensuring reliable rail service for our customers,” Veronique Hakim, the agency’s executive director, said in a statement. Christie’s office referred questions to New Jersey Transit, which blamed Amtrak’s maintenance problems. Transit advocates said that this week’s breakdowns, far from being an anomaly, laid bare the paralyzing effects of disruptions that could become common in the absence of quick action.Īsked about the latest service interruptions, Mr. The deteriorating tunnels are a chokepoint for rail traffic from Boston to Washington, the busiest railroad corridor in the United States, and serve as the central artery for New Jersey Transit, one of the nation’s largest providers of commuting services. Christie for failing to find a solution to the state’s drained transportation fund. Chris Christie’s decision five years ago to halt construction of a new rail tunnel.Ĭommuters, many of whom have grown inured to grinding delays and overflowing platforms, lashed out on Wednesday, blaming the transit agency for their being habitually late to work and criticizing Mr. The delays, coming a week after the board of New Jersey Transit approved a major fare increase, created chaos during the morning rush and gave rise to another round of questions about Gov. For the third day in a row, electrical problems in century-old rail tunnels under the Hudson River on Wednesday stymied the commutes of tens of thousands of New Jersey Transit riders, illustrating again the shortcomings of the region’s languishing infrastructure system.