A fire that broke out near train tracks in the Bronx on Tuesday led to an suspension of all Amtrak service between NY Penn Station and New Haven that lasted through much of Wednesday, according to the transit agency, with service finally restored in the late afternoon.
Service was initially supposed to be back up and running around 2 p.m. Wednesday, but Amtrak said at that time the tracks were still closed. Crews assessed and repaired any damage to the tracks, and service was restored after 3:30 p.m.
Customers traveling between New York and New Haven were encouraged to use Metro-North, which had been cross-honoring tickets from Grand Central Station only.
Elsewhere on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, all service between NYC and Washington, D.C. was suspended until 4 p.m., the agency said. That disruption came as a result of overhead power issues, with downed wires blocking tracks in the Philadelphia area. Service partially returned later Wednesday, with delays of at least 30 minutes as crews work to restore full service.
The initial service halt between Penn Station and New Haven stemmed from a transformer fire in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx on Tuesday. A fire was sparked at a 16,000 square-foot warehouse used to store auto parts on Bronxdale Avenue around 2 p.m.
Just minutes later, the Amtrak transformer caught fire about a quarter of a mile away. The flames spread to a parking lot and engulfed at least two vehicles.
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Thick black smoke choked the air, hovering over the area and made the tracks seemingly impassable. It was unclear what sparked the fires, or if they were connected.
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"There was brush burning outside of the building, don’t know if that was case of the fire at this time," said FDNY Chief of Operations Kevin Woods.
