Metro-North commuters should expect long delays, crowded conditions and limited service today after a raging four-alarm fire broke out beneath elevated train tracks in NY, officials said.
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The fire, which reached four alarms, broke out near the Urban Garden Center under Metro-North’s elevated tracks at Park Avenue and 118th Street around 6:42 p.m. on Tuesday.
Metro-North is running at about 75 percent of normal service today on an enhanced Saturday schedule – with additional rush hour trains.
A raging fire underneath elevated Metro-North train tracks in East Harlem brought rail service to a halt during Tuesday’s evening rush.
Metro-North said the blaze caused structural damage to a steel supporting column and three adjacent horizontal steel girders. Crews were installing six temporary steel columns.
“The fire was so hot that they could hear the rivets, the bolts popping”, Cuomo said.
An estimated 150,000 passengers endured overcrowded trains with limited service after the fire.
Train speeds have also been reduced from 60 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour.
The MTA said customers traveling into and out of Grand Central Terminal are continuing to experience delays of up to 60 to 80 minutes due to congestion in the vicinity of the Harlem 125th Street station. It’s unclear how many of those drivers normally would have taken the train.
Until further notice, the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines will be running on a Saturday schedule, to and from Grand Central Terminal.
In this photo provided by Benjamin Parkin, firefighters battle a blaze at the Metro-North railroad tracks in New York, Tuesday, May 17, 2016.
“I had to stand the whole time”.
Service was suspended to and from Grand Central Terminal, in the heart of Manhattan, which is used by 750,000 people a day.
Metro-North commuter Mike Joshi, who teaches in Brooklyn, got on at Southport, Connecticut.
Before reopening the tracks for Wednesday’s commute, the MTA said in a statement that crews “inspected all elements, including the supports, track, power and signal, and ran test trains to ensure safety”.
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The blaze Tuesday night broke out in construction trailers in the 1600 block of Park Avenue, according to the Fire Department of NY.
