Hours after a predawn power loss shut down much of Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line early on Wednesday, officials warned that service could be imperiled for several days, and possibly longer, upending commutes for tens of thousands of travelers.
The disruption began after a Consolidated Edison feeder cable in Mount Vernon, N.Y., failed around 5:20 a.m., snarling service between Stamford, Conn., and Grand Central Terminal.
The utility said the type of repairs needed “typically take two to three weeks.” Officials hoped to line up alternative power sources that could hasten a return to normal service, but state and transit officials conveyed little optimism that the fixes would come quickly.
“People need to now assume this is a long-term problem,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut said in a news conference.
After speaking with officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the governor said, “It was clear that they don’t have an immediate solution to this problem.”
The authority said commuters who use the New Haven line would encounter a patchwork of trains and buses on Thursday morning, a setup that would continue “until further notice.” The agency said the plan could accommodate about a third of the regular ridership.
Con Edison said it was unsure why its 138,000-volt feeder cable, which supplies electricity to the railroad’s overhead power lines, had failed. Another cable that typically provides power to the New Haven line was out of service for scheduled repairs as part of equipment upgrades, the utility added. That feeder was not expected to be functional until mid-October.
The transportation authority said it was assessing the possibility of finishing the upgrades ahead of schedule.
Mr. Malloy suggested that, in the interim, riders turn to the railroad’s Harlem line, or car-pool. He noted that the episode bore little resemblance to a Metro-North service disruption in May, when a collision injured scores of passengers. In that case, full service returned in less than a week.
But after that episode, officials were initially more hopeful about restoring service quickly, Mr. Malloy said. In this case, he said, “that confidence does not exist.”
Around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the authority began an “extremely limited” hourly diesel service out of both Grand Central Terminal and Stamford.
Stations were stuffed with passengers, some already hours late to work. Once they boarded, there was often crowding in even tighter quarters.
Service on Amtrak, which shares the tracks with Metro-North, was also affected, with delays throughout the Northeast and a suspension of Acela Express trains between New York City and Boston.
More than 40,000 commuters take the New Haven line during a typical morning rush.
For regular riders, the morning’s commute turned suddenly ominous.
Michael Alpert, 45, from Westport, Conn., was greeted by an exodus of cars when he arrived at Green’s Farms station around 6:35 a.m. A fellow rider informed him of the power issues. “He offered me a ride into the city,” Mr. Alpert recalled, but “said I was on my own getting home.”
Mr. Alpert decided to work from home.
Chris Halloran, 25, who commutes from the Upper East Side to Stamford, opted to rent a car.
“The only car they had left was the Mustang convertible,” he said, “which was fun to drive on a beautiful day, but it was $125, plus gas.”
Others suggested that the service disruption represented a tipping point.
“This is making me think long and hard about the need for a monthly Metro-North ticket,” said Melissa Haber, 39, of New Rochelle, N.Y. “The service has been lousy for months.”
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By MATT FLEGENHEIMER 
