It has not been a good day for area communters relying on planes or trains (automobile owners, you're next). Starting around 2:30 p.m. today, some 20,000 PSE&G customers lost power due to an equipment failure at the utility’s Bayway Switching Station in Elizabeth. At Newark Liberty International Airport, power was down for about 90 minutes. Terminals A, B and C lost power, while the control tower was placed on backup power.
ABC reports that flights already in the air were diverted elsewhere, and two Air Trains carrying a total of 22 passengers were stranded between stations. According to the Star-Ledger, the airport's website listed dozens of delayed flights on several different carriers, including Continental Airlines, which controls most of the hub's departures. In some parts of New Jersey, officers and emergency workers had to step in and direct traffic at intersections because traffic lights were disabled.
According to PSE&G, power was restored to the airport at 3:51 p.m., and all customers are now back on the grid. In a press release, the utility says, "The problem occurred while PSE&G was upgrading the switching station in time for peak summer load. Once the outage occurred, the utility isolated the failure and restored the station through an alternate power feed. The cause of the equipment failure is under investigation."
