Chasing Pavements: Post-Sandy Adventure on NJ Transit

Now that Sandy’s come and gone, I hope that everyone is safe from her wrath. My thoughts and prayers are with those who lost everything, and hopefully they can start rebuilding their lives. I was extremely fortunate, as my house was one of the few that didn’t lose power, even though most of my town is still without it.

I came home for the weekend so I could vote, so Monday I had to take New Jersey Transit into Manhattan to get to my internship. I’m a seasoned commuter and have never experienced anything but a minor delay with the trains. However, Hurricane Sandy threw the mass transportation system into a tailspin. It was probably one of the greatest travel adventures I’ve ever experienced!

The rails just eroded away on this track!

The train I normally take was down because of lack of power, rail damage, and fallen trees, so I had to travel two towns over to catch the 7:23 AM train to Secaucus, where I would transfer to get to Penn Station. Everything was running smoothly until we were almost at Secaucus; the train stopped for a good 40 minutes waiting its turn to feed into the station! When we were finally able to exit the train, we were met with hundreds of other people who were trying to accomplish the same transfer. After a series of unfulfilled promises and an hour of waiting, an empty train finally arrived to take us to New York.

An incredibly crowded Penn Station.

By the time I arrived at my internship, it had been exactly THREE HOURS from when I began my journey! Thankfully, the ride home was uneventful, but the entire morning was a stressful experience to say the least. I appreciate that New Jersey Transit tried to open up as many lines as they could, but I think they underestimated the demands that would be placed on the system.

So where does Adele’s song “Chasing Pavements” come in? Sometime between when the mysterious empty train that was promised to us for a good hour showed up and when it left the station, I realized that it was the perfect theme song for the day. I longed to escape the rails and tunnels that held me hostage for the morning. I’m pretty sure I had it on repeat for a good ten minutes on the ride into New York.