Strong winds and heavy rain are pounding parts of the Northeast, knocking out power to more than a half-million homes and businesses, delaying international airline flights and stranding about 500 passengers on a New York-bound train for more than five hours.

A New Jersey Transit train became stuck on the tracks more than halfway through its trek from Trenton to New York City along the Northeast Corridor line, spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said.

A diesel engine would pull the train to the Rahway station, where buses would meet the passengers and take them to Newark Penn Station, Hackett said.

It was the second time in two weeks that more than 500,000 homes and businesses in the Northeast were left in the dark in the wake of a powerful storm.

NZHERALD