Super Bowl transit nightmare: fans pan hellish commute to and from MetLife ...

By Mike Frassinelli and Ryan Hutchins

EAST RUTHERFORD - As if the Super Bowl blowout wasn't bad enough, the commute by rail to and from MetLife Stadium Sunday proved a torturous experience for thousands who heeded the NFL's call to use mass transit.

More than 28,000 people bought train tickets to the Meadowlands, shattering a record set more than four years ago. It was far more people than officials had expected to ride the trains, and it proved too much for the transit system to handle.

Fans left New York with Super Bowl tickets in hand and smiles on their faces. They arrived in Secaucus - less than 7 miles from the stadium - sweaty, perturbed and cursing after a sweltering and cramped ride on the rails.

'New Jersey sucks,' some shouted as they stepped out of cars and into the Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction train station.

That was hardly the end of their troubles. The transfer station, where NJ Transit's direct service to the stadium departs, was packed. Thousands of fans spilled into the station, snaked through hallways, passed through radiation detection portals and ran into a wall of officers from the Transportation Security Administration.

The rush left some waiting hours in unbearable heat. Many peeled off coats and other layers.

'Worse than a sauna,' said Jason Leavitt, a Denver resident who spent 2â€ÂÂ...½ hours journeying from New York Penn Station to MetLife Stadium with his wife. 'There were people passing out.'

NJ Transit disputed the reports of people passing out but did not question claims of boiling train cars and the oven-like train station.

Part of the problem appeared to be the tight security. TSA officers were initially checking every bag. But by 2:45 p.m. - more than three hours before the game - checkpoints were overwhelmed by the crowds and the agents began letting people pour through with little or no check to see what they were carrying.

By 4 p.m., the lines were flowing smoothly, even as some 400 fans waited at the checkpoint. By then, people were in much brighter spirits. Within an hour, the lines were all but gone.

As the game started winding down, a third of the stadium began to rush for the trains headed back east. By the start of the fourth quarter, there was already a mob waiting at the Meadowlands Rail Station. It grew worse when the game ended.

As the crowd continued to swell shortly before 11 p.m., an announcer told departing fans they would face an hour wait on the train platform and urged them to go to the Chase Club, an indoor stadium lounge. NJ Transit spokesman John Durso Jr. said the agency opened a second track to accommodate large crowds, allowing two trains to be loaded at once.

Staff writers Ed Beeson, Alexi Friedman, James Queally, Tom Haydon, Andre Malok and Mark Mueller contributed to this report. RELATED COVERAGE

* NJ Transit: Super Bowl fans weren't fainting at the train station

* Super Bowl 2014: Chants of 'Jersey sucks' as train ridership hits record

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