Following a Tuesday afternoon fire under the Metro-North tracks in Harlem, riders are being warned to expect delays on Wednesday as crews repaired the damage.
Metro-North was operating on a Saturday schedule on Wednesday as more than 100 Metro-North personnel worked to ensure that the tracks were structurally sound after Tuesday’s fire, NY1 reported. RELATED:Fire under Metro-North tracks stalls trains, produces large smoke plume “Thank God that nobody died tonight and there was no loss of life in this situation because it was horrendous,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo was quoted by CBS2, which added that officials were still determining the cause of the fire. Manhattan-bound service had been suspended overnight, and on Wednesday, only two of the four Metro-North tracks were in use, NY1 added.
Also on Wednesday, trains along that section of track traveled at a slower speed, 30 mph instead of 60 mph, according to ABC7. Customers traveling into the city could transfer to the subway in the Bronx as a commute alternative.
Loud explosion and smoke around Park & 119th. Another gas explosion in Harlem? #Harlem #explosion pic.twitter.com/K0IGA5YTmV
— Miao Miao (@meggiemiao) May 17, 2016
“Like a loud explosion, like a big bomb,” resident Tom Jones described the fire to CBS2 on Tuesday evening. “I saw the sparks, and I don’t know if it was sparks from the train, but after the sparks there was a loud explosion.” RELATED:NJ fires hamper NYC rail service MTA Chairman and CEO Tom Prendergast was confident regular service would be restored by Friday, according to NY1, adding that the fire damaged a vertical column that supports the elevated span of railroad tracks.
