Major Power Outage Affects Rail Service Across East
http://www.trainweb.com/news/2003/2003h14a.html

Posted 8:49 PM EDT

At 4:14 PM EDT, Thursday, August 14, 2003, a major power grid powering much of the Eastern United States and Canada shut down, first causing New York City to lose power. Soon after, Albany, Syracuse, Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, New Haven, Hartford, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania lost power, as well as Ottawa and Toronto, Canada. Detroit Metropolitan Airport, New York's JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Airports, Cleveland Hopkins Airport, Toronto Pearson Airport, and Ottawa International Airport, have all been shut down. These airports will gradually reopen as the night progresses. It has been confirmed that the following rail transit services have been affected:

• Amtrak - All service into New York Penn Station is shut down. Penn Station has been evacuated. Amtrak will operate limited Northeast Corridor service between Newark, NJ and Washington, DC, with no service anywhere north of Newark. Many trains are running only from Philadelphia south. Train 30, the eastbound Capitol Limited, and train 48, the eastbound Lake Shore Limited, both departed Chicago, but are subject to delays east of Toledo.

• VIA Rail Canada - Status unknown.

• New Jersey Transit - All rail service shut down.

• New York City Transit (site down due to power outage) - All rail service shut down.

• Long Island Rail Road (site down due to power outage) - All rail service shut down.

• Metro-North Railroad (site down due to power outage) - All rail service shut down.

• Cleveland RTA - Status unknown.

• Toronto Transit Commission - All rail service shut down.

• GO Transit Toronto (site down due to power outage) - Status unknown.

• OC Transpo Ottawa - Status unknown.

MSNBC: How the U.S. power system works