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YONKERS, N.Y. – Metro-North's Hudson Line was back to normal just in time for Tuesday evening's commute following two days of delays caused when a contractor working on railroad land without permission severed underground cables.
All lines were back on schedule Tuesday afternoon, a spokeswoman said, after crews worked through the night repairing cables that were severed Monday afternoon.
Track 1, the northbound express track, was restored at 12:45 p.m., and Track 3, the northbound local track, was restored at 3. All southbound trains were running in time for the Tuesday morning commute.
MTA officials blamed the mishap on a contractor working on the nearby Glenwood Power Plant. The contractor's crew was working on rail property without permission just before 4 p.m. when it accidentally cut a fiber optic communications cable, the MTA said. The cable included two 2,300-volt power lines (which caught fire), five signal lines and lines for the public address system.
All four tracks on the Hudson line were affected, causing delays of up to 30 minutes the rest of Monday. On Tuesday, northbound riders experienced delays of up to 20 minutes throughout the morning and into early afternoon.
“Reconnecting the wires is the least of the challenges,” the MTA said, later adding that “the biggest challenge is getting enough maintainers who are fresh to do the work.”
MTA officials said they met with owners of the Glenwood Power Station last month when they discovered that construction crews were working on rail property without permission.
“The developers were told to get off the property while their request was considered,” the MTA said. “They were told at that time that there were utilities buried in the maintenance road.”
The MTA said it is continuing to investigate the incident.
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