Penn Station Work-Train Collision Sparks Fire, Injuring 5 and Halting Amtrak Service Until Afternoon
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 29
Penn Station Work-Train Collision Sparks Fire, Injuring 5 and Halting Amtrak Service Until Afternoon
5 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 29
Five rail workers were injured—two seriously—after an overnight fire on an Amtrak contractor’s maintenance vehicle near the Hudson River tunnels disrupted the Friday commute at Penn Station.
Janno Lieber, the MTA chief, said two work trains collided, damaging the electrical system and igniting the blaze; firefighters got the 1:30 a.m. fire under control around 4 a.m. after deploying 46 trucks and 141 personnel.
Amtrak accepted responsibility and said service between New York and New Jersey and points south would stay suspended until Friday afternoon, while service north and east of Penn Station remained reduced.
NJ Transit suspended Penn Station-Newark service and diverted Midtown Direct trains to Hoboken, while Long Island Rail Road had resumed full service by 8:30 a.m. after earlier cancellations and residual delays.
The disruption was the second major fire-related Penn Station outage this month, adding to pressure in Amtrak’s long-running tensions with the MTA over maintenance failures and delays.
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