Passengers were trapped on a train from New York to New Jersey in the dark with no bathrooms or electricity for ten hours after the tracks were flooded by storm Ida.
NJ Transit’s 3881 train left New York’s Penn Station at 7:43 p.m. Wednesday and was heading to Trenton when it turned off east of Newark International Airport around 8:30 p.m., tell CNN a spokesman for the transportation agency.
According to NJ Transit, passengers were crammed into cars at one end of the train after three cars at the other end grabbed a few inches of water. Within hours of being abandoned, the air conditioning and ventilation of the train accompanied the electricity.
The approximately 200 passengers on board received some relief when police arrived and opened the doors around four in the morning to give them water, but remained trapped until a rescue train could tow them to Newark Airport Station.
From there, passengers were able to board other trains, and several told CNN that they did not reach their destinations until well after 7 p.m.
Ilia Rivera wrote in a post on social media that she was trapped on the train from 7:43 p.m.
Passengers were trapped on a train from New York to New Jersey in the dark without bathrooms or electricity for ten hours after the tracks were flooded by storm Ida
Rivera noted that rescue teams had stopped near the train for hours but had not rescued passengers.
Rivera noted that a rescue train finally arrived around 5:05 a.m., before having to get off at Newark International Airport.
Twitter user Hue Hardon was also apparently on the train and wrote, “The water is very high. Look at the picture. I can see land to get off the train, but there is no word from the crew. No plan. There is no option to go out and walk home. In a train without ventilation, without lights.
Camilla Akbari, 24, said on the way out that she left the Big Apple to visit her mother in Princeton, New Jersey.
She said that after being caught on the train, it took four more hours to get to her mother’s house: two passed on another train to Trenton and two in the car after her mother picked her up while driving. through flooded streets to Princeton. .
On a normal day, the trip from Penn Station to Princeton takes just over an hour.
“We were, literally and figuratively, in the dark for hours,” Akbari told CNN, claiming officials had made false promises to them all night.
He said agitated passengers began smoking cigarettes and marijuana, while others were on the verge of having panic attacks.
Akbari said she also started to panic and trembled when the doors opened around 4am, adding that it has become easier to look back now that she is no longer stranded.
“I realized I was shaking a little bit, there were tears in my eyes, just because I was so overwhelmed by the situation. So it was definitely scary,” he said.
He added: “It was definitely an adventure.”
A photo of NJ Transit shows flood waters receding from its system tracks after the storm
A photo by NJ Transit shows the Oradell bus garage full of water after the storm
DailyMail.com has contacted Akbari and other passengers for more information and additional comments.
Akbari and other passengers explained how they were told that the train had suffered a mechanical problem and that they would have to wait for a rescue train that would take hours to get there.
Alexandra Patino, 30, was traveling from Queens to see her boyfriend in Edison, New Jersey, where she arrived around 7 p.m.
“The updates were so terrible and no one let us know what was going on,” he said.
Ilia Rivera, 30, jumped on another train to Elizabeth, New Jersey and arrived at her destination around 7 p.m. He told CNN that the floodwaters had risen almost as high as the train windows.
“I’m literally sitting by the window and I see the water at my level almost,” he said. “I’m like,‘ Will I have to swim out of here? “
Passengers and relatives reacted to the news of the stranded train on Twitter
Rivera noted that rescue teams had arrived hours before the rescue train finally arrived, but that they had done nothing to get the passengers off the train.
In a tweet around 3 a.m., NJ Transit said Newark Transportation Agency crews and the fire department were at the scene and “have been desperately trying to bring rescue vehicles on the train.” .
However, the water around the train is simply too high for safe evacuation. The train is the safest right now, while first responders are examining other options, ”an NJ Transit tweet posted.
An NJ Transit spokesman told CNN, “The decision to keep customers on the train was the safest choice, as the train wagons were high enough above the flood waters.”
Ian Wolsten, 27, was returning home from East Brunswick, New Jersey, and finally got home around 6:45 a.m. after boarding another train to the Metro Park stop, he told CNN .
“Once the train voltage was cut off, he was left absolutely powerless,” Wolsten said.
“It’s one thing to be black, because we slept anyway, but there was no air conditioning or ventilation, so with COVID, it’s like‘ What the hell is going to happen if the air doesn’t go anywhere? ‘
He added: “He just worried very quickly.”
Twitter user Hue Hardon was also apparently on the train and wrote sarcastically: “The water is very high. Look at the picture. I can see land to get off the train, but there is no word from the crew. No plan. “
There is no option to go out and walk home. In a train without ventilation, without lights, “Hardon tweeted.
Many others also enlisted the help of Twitter to seek help from NJ Transit, trapped on train 3881.
NJ Transit had suspended all train services on Wednesday except for its Atlantic City rail line, although most train service has resumed with significant delays.
“Customers should avoid traveling unless absolutely necessary,” the agency’s website says.
“The NJ TRANSIT service will continue to be subject to significant delays, cancellations and diversions as storm damage is assessed and the necessary inspections made.”
New Yorkers were also trapped overnight at the Big Apple Metropolitan Transportation Authority subway stations.
The subway system had been flooded in 46 places, leaving 15 to 20 subway trains stranded, said Janno Lieber, the interim president of the MTA. Two of the MTA’s Metro North commuter trains were also blocked.
Frank Dwyer, a spokesman for the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), told CNN that firefighters had to save hundreds of people from subway stations.
Beverly Pryce, a nurse, took an Uber from her home in the Queens neighborhood of New York City to a bus station to try to get to work, but there were no buses running.
She said she was trapped at the station until she got on a train that took her to Times Square, where she arrived. 23:30 and had to go out at night.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. ‘I didn’t expect it to be so serious. I wouldn’t leave home. “
Robert Hedglin left work in Manhattan around 9pm and finally arrived at his home in Queens on Thursday morning.
He told CNN that his train was trapped underground between two train stations for more than an hour, where he was forced to get off.
Hedglin sat in a bar until 12.30pm, when he went to a restaurant because he was there there are no taxis to get home. He was finally able to make a trip to Lyft for $ 104.
I’m exhausted, frustrated, but at least I got home safely. Some others weren’t so lucky, ”Hedglin said.