Metro-North posted the following on Tuesday to explain its response to the death of a pedestrian after being struck by a New Haven Line train at the Botanical Garden station Monday, and the resulting delays and commute impact:
The extensive delays that you experienced last night occurred when a New Haven Line train struck a person at our Botanical Garden Station in the Bronx around 3:30 p.m., shortly before the start of the evening rush hour.
This tragedy initially took all four tracks out of service in a critical section of track used by our Harlem and New Haven Lines, as emergency personnel, including personnel from FDNY, EMS and Metro-North, responded.
At the start of the rush hour two tracks were returned to service, but we were unable to stop Harlem or New Haven trains at any Bronx stations.
We only had one of our usual three outbound tracks in this area, and had to operate trains at significantly reduced speeds to protect emergency response personnel. As a result, significant train congestion occurred resulting in increasing delays to train service into and out of Grand Central. This congestion also affected Hudson Line service.
Because trains were delayed getting into Grand Central, we did not have these trains available for service out of Grand Central. This resulted in crowded conditions in Grand Central and required us to cancel and combine trains.
We realize that last night’s commute home was fraught with delays, congestion and crowded conditions. We thank you for your patience and your understanding as we attempted to provide the best service possible during an extremely difficult situation.
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