Amtrak canceled trains between New York City and Boston Friday night after debris from a ramp on Interstate 95 in Cranston fell onto railroad tracks below and damaged power lines, triggering a signal outage that shut down service on part of the busy Northeast corridor.
The railroad said Northeast Regional trains 176 and 178 were canceled between Boston and New York City, along with Acela 2172 from New Haven, Conn., to Boston. Amtrak also said trains that had already left on the route were being terminated at the nearest station.
Police responded to Route 10 N near the I-95 on ramp and Wellington Avenue in Cranston, where Michael J. Winquist said the ramp had an apparent structural issue and parts detached before landing on the tracks. “There was no collapse,” Winquist said, adding that Amtrak was notified and was on the scene. Rhode Island State Police also responded, and all train routes were halted while the ramp was blocked and taken out of service.
Amtrak said Saturday it had no estimate for when full service between New York City and Boston would resume. The disruption hit one of the Northeast’s most heavily traveled rail links and affected both Northeast Regional and Acela service, leaving the railroad to move passengers around a break in the line that started above the tracks and spread into the signal system below. The company said, “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause,” and said it was present to assist customers during the process. The immediate question now is not what caused the interruption, but how quickly the corridor can be restored after a ramp failure that did not collapse but still managed to stop the line cold.
