battalion51 said:
Why would the Subways be affected by a power shutdown inside Penn Lines? Also this is more of a theory question, wouldn't Empire Service be affected? Also does LIRR use third rail power? Also how do out of service trains on Empire Service trains get to Sunnyside?
Subways are out partly due to what Viewliner said, both the 8th Avenue and the 7th Avenue lines have direct entrances to the LIRR level of Penn. They don't have direct entrances to the Amtrak/NJ Transit level.
So with the LIRR portion of the station closed and full of smoke, allowing people to exit here would land them in heavy smoke.
The second reason is simply the fact that it's rush hour right now, even if they block off the LIRR entrances while leaving the rest of the street entrances open, there is no place for the people to go. I'm seeing live shots from a news chopper and there are thousands of people standing on the street around Penn Station. In fact one lane of 7th Avenue is full of people, not cars.
Now it should also be noted, the subways are actually running, they are just not stopping at 34th Street/Penn Station. At present the 8th Avenue line trains,
A, C, E are stopping at Penn, only the 7th Avenue lines
1, 2, 3, & 9 are still bypassing Penn.
As for the Empire Service, that typically comes in on tracks 4, 5, or 6 (ocasionally they go to even higher number tracks). The LIRR fire is on track 21, so I'm sure that they have only turned off third rail power to tracks right in that area (19,20,22).
Yes the LIRR uses third rail power, just like Empire Service. In fact it's the LIRR's third rail that made Empire Service possible at Penn. Otherwise Amtrak would have needed to find diesels that can also run on overhead catenary.
Northbound Amtrak trains from Penn, the LIRR and Empire Service trains all use the East River tunnels to reach Queens. There are also connections right outside the East River tunnels for the Sunnyside yard.