New York City Shuts Train Service as Ida Barrels Through Region

The transit situation on Thursday in the New York City region remained paralyzed after record-breaking rains, with service on most of the city’s subway lines disrupted or delayed, commuter rail lines running few trains, and Amtrak canceling service on a major corridor.

Subway and train service was slowly resuming, and New York City lifted a travel ban at 5 a.m., but warned residents to remain at home and avoid all unnecessary travel. Amtrak suspended all morning service between Philadelphia and Boston, a major business corridor.

More than a dozen New York City subway lines were at least partially suspended on Thursday morning, with several others experiencing delays, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s website.

All New Jersey Transit rail service lines were suspended except for the Atlantic City line; commuter buses continued to operate with delays, the service said.

Metro-North Railroad, a commuter rail service, urged people not to travel. The Long Island Rail Road announced on Thursday that it had resumed service on all branches except the Port Washington line, but warned that delays and cancellations would continue throughout the system.

Service was also restored between Penn Station and Mets-Willets Point for people attending the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Queens.

The delays followed a night of heavy rainfall that flooded streets and train stations, and stranded countless travelers.

Video from CBS New York showed an M.T.A. bus stopped on a street on Staten Island on Wednesday night, “submerged in waist-deep water,” it said. Firefighters helped escort passengers and the driver to higher ground, according to the station.

In New Jersey, about 200 people were rescued from a train near Newark Liberty International Airport on Wednesday night that was caught in heavy rains and flooding in that area.

The passengers had been stuck in a train near the airport for about three and a half hours before they were rescued at about 9 p.m., Jim Smith, spokesman for New Jersey Transit, said. No injuries were reported, he said.

Dozens of flights were also canceled or delayed at Kennedy International Airport and La Guardia Airport, with at least 370 flights canceled this morning at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Janno Lieber, acting chairman of the M.T.A., said on Thursday on CNN that passengers on 15 to 20 subway cars had to be rescued in the storm. No one was injured, he said.

New Yorkers should not travel until further notice, he said.

Extreme storms have battered New York’s 24-hour train service in recent years. Service was stalled for several days following damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. And in 2015, officials shut down subway service in anticipation of a severe snowstorm, which turned out to be milder than expected.

At the 96th Street Subway station in Manhattan on Wednesday, Mario Villa, a cook at Tartina, waited at least two hours for a train to his home in Queens. At midnight, sitting on a stalled No. 1 train beside a co-worker, he said, “We’ll wait. We don’t get upset. We just have to wait.”

Reporting was contributed by Anne Barnard, Stacy Cowley, Andy Newman, Azi Paybarah, Christiaan Triebert and Ashley…