NYC Amtrak shutdown caused by trespassers near tracks

The sight of two people with a skateboard near the tracks at New York’s Pennsylvania Station on Wednesday night was the cause of a two-hour rail shutdown, according to Amtrak.

An Amtrak engineer reported seeing the pair and applied the brakes to a New Jersey-bound train shortly after 4 p.m., said Jason Abrams, a spokesman for the national railroad. The trespassers weren’t found, he said.

NJ Transit and Amtrak service was suspended for about two hours at the nation’s busiest passenger-train station, leaving commuters and regional rail riders to wait or seek other transportation. 

In Pennsylvania last week, two children, ages 9 and 12, were killed by an Amtrak train in Chester, 19 miles (31 kilometers) south of Philadelphia. Officials said they had been among a group of young people spotted playing on the tracks.