Update: Turns out this weblog entry is on the first page of search results for “PATH fire,” so it often gets visits when PATH fires happen. Check Google News, people.

Not a fun wait for the Amtrak train out of NJ tonight. Train status checks said “12 minutes late,” but at ETA, a sleeper train came to rest on the opposite side of the tracks, and the PA system announced cryptically that Northeast Corridor operations would experience further 15-20 minute delays “due to police activity.” At that moment, several police cars passed by, and I theorized that someone had been hit. Two waiting passengers mentioned hearing of a fire on the tracks, and a call to Amtrak (bypassing Julie) confirmed that the delays were due to a PATH train fire in the Newark rail yard tying up other train traffic at the station.

Fortunately it turned out our train had left Newark before the fire had started, and managed to skip the worst of the delays, finally arriving an hour late, and making up about thirty minutes of the delay en route. Travel bullet dodged.

I don’t know if one will be able to say the same for PATH tomorrow, though. PATH out of Newark might be troublesome.