Penn Station Entrance Shut Down For Overcrowding; LIRR, NJ Transit Have Huge Delays, Cancellations Tuesday

MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN — The delays and cancellations piled up so much at Penn Station on Tuesday afternoon that authorities closed one of the entrances to major commuting artery because of fears of overcrowding, leaving commuter stranded on rainy Manhattan streets.

The NYPD shut the entrance at 34th Street and Seventh Avenue shortly before 6 p.m. during the evening commute, several people outside the station said. No doubt, authorities were trying to avoid the "stampede" that left 13 people injured less than two weeks ago.

It's unclear when the station entrance would reopen. Both Long Island Railroad and New Jersey Transit trains were experiencing heavy delays and some cancellations Tuesday evening because of issues on the Amtrak tracks in and out of the city.

Click here to see the latest from NJ Transit and here for LIRR.

Photos from the scene showed the madness both inside and out of the station:

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday said the crumbling infrastructure could make Penn Station a vulnerable target for a terrorist attack.

He slammed "across-the-board flaws, poor coordination, poor staffing and vulnerabilities" which contributed to the stampede scare and could contribute to a "disaster" should Penn Station be the target of a real attack.

"We must make sure our transportation hubs, like Penn Station, are best prepared to handle the very real threats that confront us," Schumer said Sunday. "Public spaces are a real challenge to law enforcement and any mishap could prove deadly. That’s why we need to make sure our law enforcement has the resources, training and coordination required to better protect the public."

This is a developing story. Patch will update it throughout the evening with the latest information as it becomes available.