A fire disrupted train service at Penn Station for two days after a metal skirt board fell from a new Amtrak NextGen Acela train car and hit an electric third rail, sparking the blaze. FDNY responded around 11:30 a.m. last Thursday. The incident occurred at Amtrak’s C interlocking, a critical junction directing trains between Penn Station and two East River tunnels used by Long Island Rail Road and some NJ Transit service. Amtrak turned off power across the entire vicinity to allow emergency response. Hundreds of LIRR trains were canceled and NJ Transit Midtown Direct service was disrupted through Friday. Crews restored the tunnels on Saturday. The event adds to ongoing tensions between Amtrak and the MTA over testing and prior damage to overhead power cables, with Amtrak stating the fallen panel was unrelated to earlier wire damage.
"Amtrak executive vice president of capital delivery Laura Mason said a metal "skirt board" on the side of one of its NextGen Acela train cars hit an electric third rail, sparking the blaze. FDNY officials said they responded to the fire about 11:30 a.m. last Thursday. Mason said the incident happened in a particularly sensitive location: Amtrak's busy "C interlocking," which directs trains between Penn Station and two of Amtrak's East River tunnels. The interlocking is a key section of tracks used by Long Island Rail Road and some NJ Transit trains."
""It's like having an accident at the intersection. You end up blocking both streets while you try and clear that incident," Mason said. "We are grateful we had no injuries. We protected life and safety, and that is the most important thing." Mason said the railroad needed to turn off the power in the "entire vicinity so that the fire department could respond.""
"Hundreds of LIRR trains were canceled, and NJ Transit Midtown Direct service was knocked out through Friday. Crews restored the tunnels on Saturday, the same day the LIRR was shut down anyway due to a strike. The fiasco is the latest chapter in a long-simmering feud between Amtrak and the MTA, which runs the LIRR. The MTA has, in recent months, refused to allow Amtrak to test the new NextGen Acela trains on tracks owned by Metro-North because they damaged the MTA's overhead power cables, according to a lawsuit filed by Amtrak last month."
"Mason said the panel that fell off and caused the fire was unrelated to the one that damaged the overhead wires. "They have some teething challenges," she said of the new trains, which debuted last year. The cause of the fire was first reported by the"
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