Electrical Fire Under Control After Disrupting Penn Station LIRR Service, Officials Say

NEW YORK, NY — The electrical fire that disrupted Long Island Railroad service Thursday morning is out, FDNY officials confirmed to Patch Thursday.

The fire disrupted service across several Long Island Railroad branches Thursday; FDNY officials told Patch 85 fire and EMS personnel across 26 units had responded the scene of the blaze.

One official close to the situation said the fire was an electrical fire on the tracks in the East River Tunnel, with lines 3 and 4 of the tunnel suspended.

In the city terminal zone, the MTA's website said service between Jamaica and Penn Station was temporarily suspended in both directions due to the fire department activity. Service to and from Grand Central, the MTA said, was not affected.

Meanwhile on the Long Beach branch, an 11:11 a.m. train from Long Beach to Penn Station was canceled, a 10:11 train from Long Beach to Penn Station was being rerouted, and an 11:51 a.m. train from Penn Station to Long Beach was switched to originate out of Jamaica.

On the Port Washington Branch, there was no eastbound or westbound service due to the fire department activity, per an 11:54 a.m. announcement from the MTA. There were also delays, cancellations and reroutes on the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma branches of the LIRR, the MTA said.

The electrical fire comes weeks after a disabled train had to be evacuated in the tunnels below the East River, and less than 48 hours before the deadline for a contract agreement between the MTA and about 3,500 LIRR employees. Negotiations on that contract, union officials said, were resuming Thursday.

In conversations with Patch, FDNY officials said the fire had been reported under control as of 1:02 p.m.