NEWARK — Penn Station and part of the campuses of Rutgers-Newark and New Jersey Institute of Technology lost power this morning after an explosion related to utility work on underground cables, PSE&G officials said.

No one was hurt in the explosion, which could be heard on the downtown campuses of the two universities, said Kristine Snodgrass, a PSE&G spokeswoman. It is unclear what caused the accident.

"It's very much in the early stages," Snodgrass said. "They are on the scene. They are investigating."

Penn Station briefly lost power, but train service was not affected.

"Our backup generators kicked in, so there was no impact on service," said John Durso Jr., a NJ Transit spokesman.

The power outages affected several buildings at NJIT and Rutgers-Newark.

The campus of Rutgers-Newark, where an explosion caused a power outage this morning.

"There have been no injuries and no damage to university property, despite a loud explosion heard this morning," Kemel Dawkins, Rutgers-Newark's executive vice chancellor, said in a message to the campus.

Streets around Rutgers-Newark and neighboring NJIT have been closed in recent days for utility work.

Witnesses in Rutgers-Newark's Blumenthal Hall said they heard an explosion this morning, then lost power about 20 minutes later.

"We all heard an explosion and didn't know what it was," said Carla Capizzi, a Rutgers-Newark spokeswoman.

Rutgers-Newark's Bradley Hall and Center for Law and Justice lost power more than an hour later, Rutgers-Newark officials said.

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The affected buildings at Rutgers-Newark house the law school, law library, criminal justice library, student services offices, bookstore, admissions office, chancellor's office and arts, media and culture department. The buildings were evacuated and some employees were sent home, school officials said.

Rutgers-Newark students are encouraged to check the campus website and university Facebook page for updates on whether their classes are cancelled, campus officials said.

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