Amtrak Repairs 2 East River Tracks After Acela Panel Triggered Fire

15 articles · Updated · New York Daily News · May 16

Amtrak said signal repairs on East River Tunnel tracks 3 and 4 were finished Friday, with both set to reopen at 5 a.m. Saturday after the Penn Station outage.
A loose red panel on Acela train 2155 likely scraped the third rail, bridged it to the running rail and overloaded the signaling system near a switch, according to a source familiar with the incident.
The failure crippled service Friday: NJ Transit diverted all trains to Hoboken, while the LIRR sent nearly all Penn-bound traffic to Grand Central Madison and offered only limited Penn Station service.
The disruption was amplified because track 2 was already in a 13-month Sandy-related rebuild, leaving only 1 East River Tunnel track in service before the repaired lines returned.

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