Transportation
MTA Issues Statement to Explain Monday Night’s Extensive Train Delays
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After many commuter trains were delayed Monday night on Metro-North lines, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority issued this statement early Tuesday afternoon to explain what was going on:
To Our Customers:
The extensive delays that you experienced last night occurred when a New Haven Line train struck a person at our Botanical Garden Station in the Bronx around 3:30 PM, shortly before the start of the evening rush hour. This tragedy initially took all four tracks out of service in a critical section of track used by our Harlem and New Haven Lines, as emergency personnel, including personnel from FDNY, EMS and Metro-North, responded. At the start of the rush hour two tracks were returned to service, but we were unable to stop Harlem or New Haven trains at any Bronx stations. We only had one of our usual three outbound tracks in this area, and had to operate trains at significantly reduced speeds to protect emergency response personnel. As a result, significant train congestion occurred resulting in increasing delays to train service into and out of Grand Central.
