A derailed Metro-North rail car is hoisted onto the tracks in Bridgeport. Conn. on Sunday. Crews will spend days rebuilding 2,000 feet of track, overhead wires and signals following Friday's collision between two trains.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has a suggestion for commuters who manage to make it to work in New York City from southwest Connecticut: You might want to stay put in the Big Apple — all week.

The governor warned that today’s commute was expected to be “extremely challenging” following the collision and derailment of two trains outside Bridgeport last week that injured 72 people.

Crews will spend days rebuilding 2,000 feet of track, overhead wires and signals, forcing thousands more people to drive to work on highways that even in normal times can be bumper-to-bumper. And a rainy weather forecast could make driving a bit more treacherous.

“Residents should plan for a week’s worth of disruptions,” Malloy said Sunday at a news conference in Hartford.

If all 30,000 affected commuters took to the highways to get to work, “we would literally have a parking lot,” the governor said. If a substantial number of affected consumers hit the roads, traffic will be “greatly slowed,” he said.

“If you are going to New York and you get to New York or you’re transporting yourself to New York you may decide that perhaps you should stay there for the duration of this disturbance,” Malloy said.

About 700 people were on board the trains Friday evening when one heading east from New York City’s Grand Central Terminal to New Haven derailed just outside Bridgeport. It was hit by a train heading west from New Haven. Nine remained hospitalized on Sunday, with one critical.

NTSB investigators arrived Saturday and are expected to be on site for seven to 10 days. They will look at the brakes and performance of the trains, the condition of the tracks, crew performance and train signal information.