NJ Transit last night apologized for the incident and said it is investigating why the train missed its stop — an egregious mistake that almost never happens.

Courtney Carroll, a spokeswoman for NJ Transit, said the train departed from New York just after 6 p.m. and that it was scheduled to stop at the Princeton Junction station at 7 p.m. last night.

“It did not make the scheduled stop,” Carroll admitted. “We are investigating into why the stop was not made. This was an inconvenience to (the riders), and we apologize for that.”

Carroll didn’t identify who was responsible for the mistake but said the incident didn’t involve a new employee.

“I was so scared,” said a train rider who identified himself as Isaac. “I thought that was it for me. I have never been so scared in my life.”

To put the degree of scariness into perspective, Isaac said he’s been riding NJ Transit trains for more than 20 years and has been on board on two occasions when the train struck and killed suicide victims. He also said he was in Manhattan during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“I don’t know if the guy was sleeping or if he was on some type of medication,” Isaac said of the train man who made the mistake. “I don’t know if I want to take NJ Transit to work again.”

Another rider last night told The Trentonian that the incident “left about 1,000 people stranded.” The NJ Transit spokeswoman confirmed that the agency had to accommodate a large number of riders by giving them a train ride from the Hamilton station back to Princeton Junction.

“It raises some safety concerns,” said a man whose wife was one of the stranded riders.