Heat Slows Train Travel in Rail-Reliant East

Railroad officials say extreme heat has forced delays and cancellations on heavily traveled lines in the Northeast.

Temperatures soared above 100 degrees across the region Tuesday. Such hot weather can make power lines droop and rails expand, requiring slower travel.

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New Jersey Transit says its commuter trains ran 20 to 30 minutes late during Tuesday's evening rush and some were canceled.

About 1,500 passengers on a New York-to-Trenton, N.J., train were stranded for 25 minutes when it lost power. Transit spokesman Dan Stessel says the crew restored power long enough to get the train into a station and passengers were put aboard other trains.

Amtrak says it had 15-minute delays Tuesday afternoon between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., because two commuter trains stalled due to electrical problems. A spokeswoman says it's unknown if those problems were heat-related.

In Washington, officials are warning MARC riders of delays on all three lines.

CSX, which owns the tracks along the Brunswick and Camden lines, has issued heat orders slowing traffic on those from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday because extreme heat can cause welded rail to bend or kink.

Trains on both lines will operate 20 mph under the normal maximum authorized speed, but not less than 40 mph. Maryland Transit Administration officials say signal and switch problems are causing further delays on the Camden line.

Amtrak, which owns Penn line tracks, says there are no heat orders on that line, but trains are using just one track between New York Avenue and Landover after a power line went down in that area.