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Switching House Fire Expected To Cause Delays On Metro-North New Haven Line 'For Weeks'

COS COB, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) - A weekend fire inside a switching control house in Cos Cob, Conn., is causing minor delays for the start of the work week along Metro-North Railroad's New Haven line.

As WCBS 880's Paul Murnane reported, railroad officials said the Saturday fire destroyed equipment that allows the railroad to switch among the four tracks.

Switching House Fire Expected To Cause Delays On Metro-North New Haven Line 'For Weeks'

Along a nine-mile stretch between Port Chester and Stamford, the system has gone from three rush-hour-direction tracks to two.

The fire came just as new timetables went into effect, designed to make the system more reliable for riders.

CHECK: Traffic & Transit | Metro-North

"It's been a really rough year, yeah," a commuter told Murnane.

"I've been commuting over 20 years," another commuter said. "I think it's overall good service. I just think this has been a challenging year."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it will take weeks to implement a manual control panel to replace the remote switching house destroyed in Saturday's fire.

Delays of up to 10 minutes will persist until further notice.

Metro-North planned to have extra customer service workers at its Stamford, New Haven and New Rochelle stations for the first weekday of the new timetable.

The schedule to replace the damaged control house is being developed.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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