Later that afternoon, after the temperature peaked at 96 degrees in Newark, Amtrak lost electricity near the New Jersey side of the Hudson River tunnels.
The power failure soon shuttered a 150-mile stretch of the busiest rail corridor in the United States for more than three hours.
The impact reverberated until the next day, when trains chugged through with hours of residual delays.
As the planet rapidly warms, train delays and breakdowns are becoming more frequent as America’s antiquated rail infrastructure struggles to remain functional during prolonged extreme weather events that were not typical when the system was constructed.
A New York Times analysis of Amtrak data found that the rail service’s passengers have faced record delays in recent years caused by inclement weather such as heat waves, storms, floods, high winds, low temperatures, tornadoes, lightning and wildfires.
Organizations:
Amtrak, New York Times
Locations:
Northeast, Newark, New Jersey, Hudson, United States