Amtrak Suspends New York-Boston Routes Indefinitely As Manhunt For Marathon Bomber Continues

Amtrak has indefinitely suspended travel in the extremely busy Northeast Corridor between New York City and Boston due to the police manhunt in Watertown, Mass., for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old man who is a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday.

Dzhokhar’s elder brother Tamerlan was killed in a gunfight on Thursday evening.

In a statement, Amtrak said that “at the request of local authorities, and due to ongoing police activity, Amtrak Acela Express and Northeast Regional service remains suspended indefinitely in the Boston area. Northeast Corridor trains are terminating at New York Penn Station.” Service between Boston and New York will only be restored after Amtrak receives permission from law enforcement authorities.

However, service is operating normally between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York, as is the Springfield Shuttle between New Haven, Conn., and Springfield, Mass. NY1 said that many Boston residents are stuck in New York’s Penn Station with no way to get home. "Got on the phone, changed my ticket to tomorrow morning, but right now it looks like I don't even know if I'm going to be able to get out," one passenger told the New York City television station.

Another stranded passenger said: "We just asked someone at Amtrak and they said they're not issuing any tickets until further notice, so hopefully we'll get home tomorrow.”

A third Bostonian told NY1: "I guess I'm just going to stay in the station until they tell us what to do. If I have to stay all night then maybe tomorrow. I have people here in New York, I could call them. But I just don't want to leave right now because I don't know whether the train will go tonight or what."

Lowell, Mass., resident Joe Maloney, who left Baltimore for Boston Friday morning, but was unexpectedly deposited in New York, told NBC News of New York: "I think everyone is understanding and patient. What's going on up there is more important than what we're traveling for."

Amtrak stated that its Northeast Corridor (NEC) is the busiest railroad in North America, with more than 2,200 trains operating the Washington-Boston route each day. More than 750,000 riders use the NEC on every weekday, generating more than 4.9 million daily passenger miles.