New Jersey transit service was disrupted for the third time in less than a week

New Jersey Transit service was disrupted once again Monday evening, with travel suspended in and out of Pennsylvania Station for nearly an hour due to a report of a problem with Amtrak overhead wires in one of the Hudson River tunnels.

Service was suspended at 6:37 p.m. and resumed shortly before 7:30 p.m., but trains were still subject to delays of up to 60 minutes, a New Jersey Transit spokesman said.

It was at least the fifth disruption for New Jersey commuters in the past two months and the third in less than a week. Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains share part of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor between New York City and Trenton, NJ, so problems with Amtrak tracks or wires immediately affect New Jersey Transit service.

Trains were held up for about 25 minutes, or in some cases pulled into Penn Station, according to a New Jersey Transit customer service representative.

An Amtrak spokesman said service was suspended as a precaution after a report of problems with the overhead wires that provide the electricity that powers trains moving in and out of Penn Station. The check turned up no problems, he said, so service resumed after about half an hour.

During the shutdown, trains were diverted to Hoboken, NJ and New Jersey Transit rail tickets were accepted for travel by private bus companies and PATH trains in Newark, Hoboken, NJ and Midtown Manhattan.

Inside Penn Station, about a hundred commuters put their backpacks and bags on the ground and looked up at the screens.

“Sorry for the inconvenience,” a robotic voice called over the speakers.

Amanda Marvin and her three children had just arrived in New York from Kansas City and after a day in Manhattan were heading to their Airbnb in Newark.

But the family was temporarily stranded in Penn Station. “I have no idea what plan B is,” Ms. Marvin said. Still, she was in good spirits, giving New York “two thumbs up.”

But for some commuters who rely on the service every day, the latest delays were extremely frustrating. “On days like this when everything shuts down, things get extremely exhausting,” said Kurt Switala, who works in finance in Manhattan and lives in Montclair, NJ. He said Amtrak needed to fix the system. “There is a long overdue need to make repairs.”

Rishi Alok, who commutes to the city from Middlesex County, said delays occurred frequently, usually several times a week. Each delay adds about an hour and a half to his journey. But delays happen so often that Mr. Alok said he no longer gets angry. “You get used to it,” he said.

Monday night’s outage followed other major rush-hour delays at Penn Station in the past month.

On Thursday, one of the hottest days of the year, an afternoon power outage left thousands of commuters stranded at Penn Station and on non-air-conditioned trains. On Friday morning, a disabled train caused delays of up to an hour in and out of Penn Station.

Last Tuesday morning, New Jersey Transit service to and from Penn Station was suspended for about an hour and all Amtrak trains passing through the station were delayed due to problems with overhead wires and a passenger train capable of confined to the tracks, train officials said.

The outage ruined the morning commute for thousands of New Jersey residents as delays spread along various rail lines in the state.

Service was also disrupted in May when an overhead wire used for traffic signals fell and hit a cable in Kearny, NJ, that provides electricity to trains on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains were grounded in both directions between Penn Station and Newark, and delays stretched to more than four hours.

Roger Harris, president of Amtrak, addressed the problem of incessant disruptions and delays in a letter to customers last week, in which he apologized and said a “unique combination of events” had caused major disruptions along the Northeast Corridor.

“Regardless of the reasons that led to these delays, you deserve better service and we are committed to providing it,” he said. “We are reviewing every incident with a view to improving your future journey as we continue to advance unprecedented investment that is modernizing and strengthening the North East Corridor.”

Patrick McGeehan contributed to the reporting.