LIRR to probe why metal debris was on tracks in East River tunnel, forcing evacuation of 900 passengers

Nearly 900 LIRR riders were evacuated from a train that struck debris Wednesday — one of two separate incidents inside an East River rail tunnel that snarled the morning rush hour for Long Island commuters.

Long Island Rail Road president Rob Free said the railroad is investigating why the metal debris was on the tracks, which damaged the LIRR train, forced 900 passengers to be evacuated and caused widespread disruptions, with many LIRR trains to Penn Station either canceled or diverted to Grand Central Madison.

Service had returned close to normal by midday Wednesday.

The LIRR train struck the debris following an earlier incident in which a train operated by NJ Transit, which uses a Queens rail yard, became disabled in an Amtrak tunnel.

NJ Transit officials said the train struck a piece of third rail infrastructure just before 5 a.m. and was cleared about an hour later. About 30 minutes later the LIRR train became stranded. 

Amtrak, which owns and maintains the tunnel, responded and was able to make repairs. Amtrak officials said they are also investigating, including whether both trains may have struck the same piece of debris before it was repaired and the tunnel was reopened.

Using two rescue trains, the FDNY, along with Amtrak police and EMS personnel, evacuated the stranded LIRR passengers. No injuries were reported.

"After the [NJ Transit] train had cleared, one of our passenger trains operated through the tunnel and struck some form of debris," Free said. "I don't know where it came from, and I'm not saying it's from this New Jersey transit train. All I can say is right now that we hit a piece of metal debris down in the tunnel, but we're still assessing the damage to the infrastructure of the train."

Free said emergency teams evacuated the people in the east end of the train who then climbed aboard another train called into the tunnel. Passengers in the west cars were evacuated and taken to Penn Station.

The rest of the cars were removed from the tunnel, Free said. Amtrak is assessing the damage, Free said, adding that officials need to make a final assessment to determine if there will be any impacts to the afternoon rush hour. 

"We'll let everyone know once that happened," Free said. "But again, it's still under investigation. We're not sure where the debris came from."

Service had slowly returned to normal by early afternoon; the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said most trains were running close to schedule.

The loss of one of the four East River tunnels comes as another tunnel remains out of service while Amtrak carries out a three-year $1.6 billion effort to rehabilitate two 116-year-old tunnels damaged in Superstorm Sandy.

Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said "only a handful of incidents like this have occurred" since the tunnel rehabilitation project began a year ago.

"Amtrak is committed to continue monitoring service closely throughout the construction period and working collaboratively with our partners to respond swiftly to any unexpected disruptions," Abrams said.

Warning of the potential impact to LIRR service if a tunnel had to be taken out of service while one was already shut down, MTA officials implored Amtrak to limit its planned tunnel rehabilitation work to nights and weekends, allowing all tunnels to be available during the rush hours.

But Amtrak officials insisted that doing the work properly necessitated keeping one tunnel out of service around the clock for the duration of the project, which is expected to last into 2027.

Amtrak officials said the work is on schedule and has caused minimal disruptions up until Wednesday.