NEW YORK (AP) — A fire on an Amtrak maintenance train near New York’s Penn Station injured five people and disrupted service for many commuters Friday morning, authorities said.
The fire resulted in train delays on New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains into New York, and briefly suspended Long Island Rail Road service, more than a week after a strike had shut down that system.
Amtrak said the fire happened around 1:25 a.m. just outside of the Hudson River train tunnels that run from Penn Station in Manhattan to New Jersey. The fire prompted the temporary suspension of all rail service between New York and New Jersey because of smoke and fire conditions, the national passenger rail company said.
Amtrak service from New York to New Jersey and trains heading south had resumed by early Friday afternoon, but service on trains heading north and east of New York was still dealing with delays.
New Jersey Transit service into and out of Penn Station in Manhattan had also resumed as of early Friday afternoon, but with delays of up to an hour. The agency said on X that the fire resulted in “overhead wire and infrastructure damage.”
Amtrak didn’t say what caused the blaze, but Janno Lieber, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that oversees the LIRR and New York City’s subways and buses, said the fire was caused by the collision of two work trains. The collision impacted the electrical system and ignited the fire, he said.
Lieber also took aim at Amtrak, saying the national rail carrier “has to do better” after other recent fires in Penn Station have caused delays for commuters.
“When you see impacts like we are seeing in New York right now, you say, ‘What is going on at Amtrak?’” he said Friday at Penn Station. “We need some assurance that this isn’t going to keep happening again and again and again, setting the tracks on fire.”
Amtrak spokespeople didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
Fire officials said about 100 firefighters responded to Friday’s fire and that the blaze was contained by about 4 a.m.
Of the five people hurt, two were taken to a hospital with serious injuries, according to the New York City Fire Department. The three other people who were injured declined medical attention.
Penn Station, underneath Madison Square Garden, can serve roughly 600,000 passengers daily via Amtrak, the New York subway system, New Jersey Transit and the LIRR.
