All Amtrak services between New York Penn Station and Boston South Station resumed Saturday night after they were suspended earlier in the day because of power issues.
Service between the two Northeastern cities was disrupted for hours Saturday after a “malfunctioning circuit breaker” caused a widespread power outage on all of its tracks stretching between Penn Station and New Haven Union Station in Connecticut, Amtrak said.
As of 9 p.m. ET, service between New York and Boston was fully restored, Amtrak said in a statement, adding that the power outage was caused by a lightning strike.
Amtrak said most Sunday trains will operate as planned, but, due to the location of some trains when the power went out, a number of trains are canceled.
The company is working directly with customers who were affected by the outage to get them rebooked, according to the statement.
On Saturday morning, the company said all services were “suspended until further notice” citing the power issue. According to the Amtrak Northeast account on X, a number of delays and cancellations were already underway at the time of the morning announcement, and continued throughout the day.
The company had estimated that services would resume around 12 p.m. ET, but kept canceling trips throughout the afternoon, according to updates posted on the X account.
Just before noon, Amtrak suspended all trains originating from Boston and estimated at the time that service would be resumed by 3 p.m. But at 3:30 p.m., it said it was canceling service between Boston and New York due to the electrical issue.
A record 71 million people were expected to be on the move over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, with an additional 5.7 million travelers compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to AAA. The agency said more than 4.6 million people were expected to travel on trains, buses and cruises.