An early morning fire at Manhattan’s Penn Station caused massive suspensions and delays on Amtrak, NJ Transit, and the Long Island Railroad on Friday morning, causing a nightmare for train-bound commuters.
The fire — which took place in the station near the opening of the North River Tunnel connecting Penn to New Jersey — caused a spate of cancellations for LIRR service, with limited service returning around the 7 a.m. hour, and led to the suspension of NJ Transit trains running to Newark and Amtrak trains running south of New York.
Amtrak also indicated severe delays in service between New York City and points north.
Delays reverberated beyond the North River tunnel, with NJ Transit outages affecting MetroNorth service on the west-of-Hudson Pascack Valley and Port Jervis Lines.
“Due to Amtrak overhead wire damage resulting from an earlier Amtrak track car fire in one (tube of the North River Tunnel), NJ Transit rail service is suspended between Penn Station New York and Newark Penn Station,” the Garden State railroad posted to social media early Friday.
An Amtrak spokesman said the fire began around 1:25 a.m. following an incident involving “an Amtrak contractor maintenance vehicle” just outside the tunnel.
A spokesman for the FDNY said firefighters responded to a call that a work train was on fire at the station shortly after 1:30 a.m.
By 2:43 a.m., the fire was declared a two-alarm blaze.
The department dispatched a total of 141 firefighters and EMS personnel to the scene, bringing the fire under control by 4 a.m.
Five people were injured in the fire, according to the FDNY. Three refused medical treatment at the scene, but two were transported to Bellevue Hospital with serious injuries.
In a social media post, Mayor Mamdani expressed gratitude for the first responders Friday.
“I’m grateful to the brave firefighters and EMS members who responded quickly to extinguish this train fire and protect New Yorkers in a moment of danger,” the Mayor wrote. “Let’s keep those who were injured in our thoughts and wish them a swift, full recovery.”
In a statement, Amtrak — which owns Penn Station and the connecting tunnels — said the blaze damaged the overhead wires used to power Amtrak and NJ Transit trains.
The Amtrak spokesman said the federal passenger railway’s southbound service was expected to remain suspended until Friday afternoon.
“Amtrak apologizes for the inconvenience and is providing rebooking opportunities and refunds while it works to return to scheduled service levels,” the railroad said in a statement.
The fire is the second to strangle service at the nation’s busiest rail hub in as many weeks. As first reported by the Daily News, a dangling panel from an Amtrak Acela train sparked an electrical fire earlier this month that knocked out service to the station for two days.
