NEW YORK (WABC) — An Amtrak maintenance vehicle caught fire in a Hudson River tunnel between New York and New Jersey early Friday, suspending Penn Station service for NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road commuters.
LIRR service resumed just before 6 a.m. while NJ Transit and Amtrak service started again around 1 p.m., but commuters were warned to expect delays and cancellations.
Full NJ Transit and Amtrak service between Newark and Penn Station New York is not expected to be restored until the Monday morning commute, Amtrak officials said.
Officials said there is ‘significant damage’ to the area after the Friday morning fire.
“There is significant damage and we are working on it,” Amtrak Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Gery Williams said. “our plan is to have all the work completed, full service back on by Monday morning rush hour.”
He said the south tube of the Hudson River tunnel will remain out of service this weekend for both repairs to the fire damage and previously scheduled work.
It all started when two Amtrak work trains seem to have collided, impacting the electrical system and igniting the fire, MTA Chief Janno Lieber said.
“We are all dependent on Amtrak’s broken infrastructure,” Lieber said during a news conference Friday.
Team coverage of the early-morning fire that disrupted rail service at Penn Station.
There was a heavy emergency response at 10th Avenue and 31st Street, where a thick cloud of black smoke filled the street around 1:30 a.m.
“We had to go through an emergency exit to extinguish the fire, that was the closest option to us. It would have been a significantly difficult stretch of the hose line to go through actually Penn Station itself so we had to go through the emergency exit,” FDNY Deputy Chief Michael Barvels said.
The man who was on a train when it passed by the fire said he was shocked and confused as to why the train was allowed to pass by the fire.
“There was this sort of explosion that occurred, we were stuck between 5-8 minutes,” he said. “For me personally I was pretty shocked…why would you ride us right through it?”
The engine went up in flames, prompting firefighters to call a second alarm and run hoses into the yard to bring the fire under control.
“Very heavy smoke condition, high heat, a lot of hazards down there, tripping hazards, electrical hazards, but our units, we’re trained for this,” Barvels said.
Authorities say five workers, believed to be railroad employees, were injured and treated for smoke inhalation.
Two of those injuries are considered serious, while three others refused medical attention.
Meantime riders were left scrambling. There were long lines, confused commuters, and people on their phones trying to figure out how to get to their destination from Newark Penn Station.
Many commuters had to transfer to PATH trains to get into the city.
“I just literally came into the station and looked at the board and saw all the trains is canceled so that was a huge shock to everybody,” said commuter Yves Pierre.
“I heard about it this morning I take the train, it’s NJ Transit so you just have to expect these things,” said commuter Eric Jarmon.
NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri updated board members Friday morning during a monthly board committee.
“We have emphasized to Amtrak that they need to stay on top of repairs so these kinds of incidents don’t happen,” Kolluri said. “But in fairness to them, there are challenges when you have infrastructure that’s 100-plus years old.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul said riders deserve better:
“Fires. Trains striking debris. Amtrak incidents in Penn Station’s tunnels harm our entire regional transit system. For over a year, I’ve been demanding a plan from Amtrak to complete repairs without hurting commuters. Riders deserve better than a summer of delays and excuses.”
(ABC News contributed to this report.)
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