Long Island Rail Road commuters faced a difficult Friday morning after a fire involving an Amtrak maintenance vehicle disrupted rail traffic near Penn Station overnight, triggering widespread delays and cancellations during the early rush hour.
Service into and out of Penn Station was temporarily suspended after emergency crews responded to smoke and fire conditions reported in the Hudson River tunnels around 1:30 a.m. The incident halted rail operations between New York and New Jersey for several hours, impacting Amtrak, N.J. Transit and the LIRR.
By about 5 a.m., some LIRR service had resumed, though officials cautioned riders to expect ongoing disruptions throughout the morning commute as crews continued recovery efforts and rail traffic slowly returned to normal.
The problems stemmed from an Amtrak contractor work vehicle that caught fire inside the tunnel system leading to Penn Station, according to Amtrak officials. The overnight emergency created ripple effects across the region’s rail network, leaving thousands of commuters scrambling for alternate travel plans.
