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Commuters crowd around entrances of a New York train at Penn Station Newark Thursday morning. (Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

NJ Transit officials said they will be ready to run rail service on a regular weekday schedule Friday morning after Amtrak finishes repairs to tracks damaged after Monday's derailment in Penn Station New York.

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Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines will resume running on a regular weekday schedule and Midtown Direct trains, which had been going to Hoboken Terminal, will return to Penn Station New York, said Steven Santoro, NJ Transit executive director. The lines had been

The lines had been running on a holiday schedule which cut service and resulted in delays and overcrowding for commuters.



Those repairs, which will return 8 tracks to service, are scheduled to be completed at 4 a.m., he said

"They've assured us tracks will be available at 4 a.m.," he said.

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Cross-honoring will remain in effect with NJ Transit bus, light rail, private carrier buses, NY Waterway ferry and PATH at Newark, Hoboken and 33rd Street. A special ferry which had been operating between Hoboken and 39th street Manhattan will not operate on Friday.



The announcement came after Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman announced repairs to damaged rack switches and other equipment would be completed in time for normal service to resume on Friday morning. He blamed Monday's derailment on wooden ties that failed and allowed rails to spread apart under an NJ transit train.

Just left NYP, crew still working on the switches. 2nd crew replacing ties closer to the tunnel. — Big T (@BIGT_007) April 6, 2017



Santoro met with Federal Railroad Administration officials Thursday afternoon to discuss concerns about Amtrak's maintenance of Penn Station and the NEC. NJ Transit pays annual rent to use the NEC and Penn Station, in addition to a $74 million payment for maintenance and repairs this year.



Gov. Chris Christie ordered those payments to be suspended and asked for a congressional investigation into Amtrak.



Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.