NJ Transit Train Derails Days Before Start Of Penn Station's 'Summer Of Hell'

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The "Summer of Hell" planned for Penn Station doesn't officially begin until Monday, but it's already been a hellish year for commuters who rely on Penn to get home every night. And on Thursday, it got even worse.

An NJ Transit train with 180 people on board derailed as it pulled into the station around 9 p.m. Thursday, officials said. It's the second derailment in just over three months at the beleaguered station, whose transit infrastructure is privately owned and operated by Amtrak.

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No injuries were reported in the derailment, and all passengers were safely evacuated, according to NJ Transit officials.

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the train to derail. "NJ Transit and Amtrak officials continue to investigate," an NJ Transit spokeswoman told Patch the next morning.

All other NJ Transit trains were halted in and out of Penn Station immediately after the derailment. However, train traffic appeared to be running normally again in time for the Friday morning commute. Click here for updates on any service changes to individual lines.

Witnesses reported a chaotic scene outside Penn on Thursday night:

The train that derailed was arriving into Penn Station from Long Branch on the North Jersey Coast Line, an NJ Transit spokeswoman said.

"There are approximately 180 customers and crew on board the nine car train with no reports of injuries," the spokeswoman told Patch late Thursday night. "Customers will be transferred to another train to take them into Penn Station."

A few months back, on April 3, another train derailed near Penn Station, injuring five passengers. After that derailment, Amtrak officials — who are ultimately responsible for all operations at Penn — announced that major construction work to fix their clearly unstable infrastructure would stretch for several months over summer, causing extensive delays and service changes to NJ Transit, LIRR and Amtrak train.

Early on, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo dubbed it the "Summer of Hell" — a name which quickly stuck.

Cuomo has since gone so far as to threaten Amtrak officials with a government takeover of Penn Station if they can't get their act together. (Although things aren't going much better for the NYC subway system under state control.)

The planned work at Penn is set to start Monday and drag on into September. Patch will be be covering it extensively. Care to follow along? Sign up here for our daily newsletters and news alerts for your NYC neighborhood.

This story has been updated. Lead image via Kate Malloy/Twitter