The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night. Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region. It has brought down trees, ripped out power and inundated tunnels, rail yards and bus depots.
As of last night, seven subway tunnels under the East River flooded. Metro-North Railroad lost power from 59th Street to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line and to New Haven on the New Haven Line. The Long Island Rail Road evacuated its West Side Yards and suffered flooding in one East River tunnel. The [Brooklyn-Battery] Tunnel is flooded from end to end and the Queens Midtown Tunnel also took on water and was closed. Six bus garages were disabled by high water.
We are assessing the extent of the damage and beginning the process of recovery.
Our employees have shown remarkable dedication over the past few days, and I thank them on behalf of every New Yorker. In 108 years, our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now. All of us at the MTA are committed to restoring the system as quickly as we can to help bring New York back to normal."
Croton-Harmon is the coach yard and shops for the MTA Hudson line. In that picture, almost all the electricals are sitting in salty tidal water. All the EMUs in the yard would be inoperable, and the shop to repair them is out of commission.
In the news, I heard from Governor Chris Christie that they had to get cranes to move empty freight cars off the New Jersey Turnpike that washed up from an adjacent yard. I can’t imagine a surge that strong to actually do that but it did; all I have to say is WOW! Not sure which yard it was from but surely the damage will be extensive and freight traffic is going to be basically non existant at least until the water recedes from the coastal areas and repairs can be made.
Most of the freight cars were actually Tanktainers or Tank Containers, though it looked like there might have been one actual tank car in the photo that I saw.
Amazing watching the water flow into the subway. I have to imagine that somewhere there is a camera that caught a similar flow of rats out of the tunnels.
Rats and whatever drowned before they had a chance to get out…
But, I saw a report that NJT’s North Jersey Coast Line has got real problems with boats having hit and damaged several bridges and even laying atop the bridges. Two boats collided with the Raritan Bay Bridge between Perth Amboy and South Amboy. MTA’s MNRR has posted track flooding along the Hudson Division from Spuyten Devil to Harmon and along the NH branch lines in CT. More later…
I have found no news concerning the Port Jervis Line. This was heavily damaged during Irene and took months to rebuild. It would be interesting to know what happened this time.
NJT tried Main Line service this morning but lost power to computers again so suspended. The announcement was ambiguous in that it said service was suspended on “Main Line-Port Jervis service” because of this morning’s problem but I can’t find an announcement for the attempt at service.
Early reports said there were trains moved to higher ground on the Port Jervis Line and parked at Otisville and Campbell Hall…the Middletown newspaper even presented pictures of trains sitting at Otisville. I had a report from a railroader that there were at least 45 trees across the tracks east of Port Jervis, but that report was Wednesday afternoon. I’m keeping tabs on the websites for NJT and MNRR as well as newspaper and other media from the area…just things come through slow. I am surprised no media reporters have been too aggressive about NJT’s whole story of problems and predicaments and solutions, but have accepted the web site’s broad and sparse explanations.
There is a report that NJT was to have operated Port Jervis and Mainline Service today but had to abandon the operation when power failed and computer could not run the railroad…but also that it is supposed to be fixed by tonight. NYS&W is planning to run from Binghamton tonight with an SU100.
Thanks for the update and especially for the NYS&W tidbit. I don’t suspect this line was washed out by the Ramapough River because of the track that Hurricane Sandy took, which is much unlike the situation during Hurricane Irene. However there is a distinct lack of information about this route contrasted with the extensive coverage of the “east-of-Hudson” lines like the Hudson Line. I’m sure the rebuild from Irene was good enough to avoid any significant washout risk. They really worked hard on it last year but I’d like to know more. Thanks again!
I don’t think there was but one shot of cars at Bay Head…one of engines in the shed at Hoboken…a couple of the washout at Kearny and at Hoboken…the rest are of bridges and boats along the NJCL. What you see in that set of pictures is all NJT has released. NJT has not said much and very few little specifics about anything.