Amtrak train service between Boston and New York resumed Saturday evening after a power outage on the tracks left trains unserviced for most of the day on the busy Northeast corridor.
Amtrak reported in an update at 10:30 p.m. that the outage was caused by a lightning strike, but did not say where the strike occurred. Earlier Saturday, the railroad had said the outage was caused by a “faulty fuse that caused an outage on all tracks” between Penn Station in New York and New Haven Union Station in Connecticut.
“Amtrak is communicating directly with customers affected by these changes and offering options to rebook their travel plans,” the company said in the Saturday night update. “Amtrak apologizes for any inconvenience caused by the disruption.”
Amtrak’s social media posts indicated that the train service had been experiencing power problems since 9:20 a.m. Friday, causing delays and cancellations.
Amtrak reported Saturday evening that two trains were running on schedule: Train 65 from Boston to Newport News, Virginia, and Train 66 from Roanoke, Virginia, to Boston.
Most trains are running on their normal schedule on Sunday, Amtrak said, but trains 143, 162 and 150 have been canceled “due to the location of the equipment at the time of the service disruption.” Trains 54 and 157 are running on a modified schedule, Amtrak said.
The railway company said there will be no additional charges for travellers who wish to change their reservations.
“Customers with reservations on the affected trains will generally be reassigned to trains with similar departure times or on another day,” Amtrak said in an alert at 9:50 a.m. Saturday.
Messages were sent to Amtrak requesting more information.
About 4.6 million people were expected to travel by bus, train or cruise ship during the Fourth of July holiday, according to AAA. That’s a 9 percent increase from 2023 and nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.
Nick Stoico can be reached at [email protected].