MTA To Run Trains On 'Enhanced Saturday' Schedule For Thursday Following East Harlem Fire
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The fire that broke out in East Harlem Tuesday underneath elevated train tracks was still causing a commuting mess a night later.
Work continued Wednesday, but two of four tracks remained out of service with Metro-North trains running at reduced speeds on the outer tracks only.
CBS2's Lou Young reported that more trains will be running Thursday, but full service could still be days away. There will be an "enhanced Saturday" schedule systemwide for Thursday, which "provides customers with additional trains during peak travel periods and represents 75 percent of ridership capacity."
Metro-North reported 60- to 80-minute delays out of Grand Central heading into Wednesday evening rush hour.
Passengers said trains have been overcrowded.
"It was really jam-packed," Yonkers resident Welton Hyatt said. "I didn't even have to hold the bar and the people around me braced me up."
Peter Morgan of White Plains said: "It was awful. I went to the station and stood there and waited. Finally got on a train and was packed in there like a sardine."
Lyndsay Hargrave of Eastchester made her first Manhattan commute to and from an internship.
"I got lost multiple times. I had to ride the R for the first time," she said. "I'm finally going home. It's been a long day."
Customers should still consider alternate routes and expect delays and crowded conditions, said the MTA.
To ease outbound congestion, inbound Metro-North train traffic bypassed 125th Street in Harlem until 8 p.m.
Two of the four tracks in the area of the fire were operational for Wednesday's morning rush, but trains were slowed from their normal 60 mph to 30 mph as repairs continue. Service was at 60 percent of a normal weekday capacity.
The fire, which broke out Tuesday evening at a garden nursery center directly under the tracks on Park Avenue near 118th Street, caused damage to a center column beneath the elevated tracks.
According to the FDNY, the fire was caused by fuel spillage on a hot generator during the refueling process, CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported.
PHOTOS: Fire Under Metro-North Tracks In East Harlem
A source told CBS2's Tony Aiello that the "trailers and generators were allowed under the terms of the Urban Garden Center lease. They were allowable uses."
Crews Wednesday were prepping and welding steel beams before moving them into place as reinforcement. MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Prendergast said the work needs to be done to reinforce the critical column underneath the two center tracks, 1010 WINS Roger Stern reported.
"You got a structure that needs to be supported back down to the ground vertical columns," he said.
Commuters were warned to expect long delays and crowded conditions, and officials encouraged customers to work from home or find alternate travel plans.
"We're hoping and expecting the full service could be restored by Friday, that's what we're shooting for," MTA spokesperson Meredith Daniels told WCBS 880. "Right now, we have that Saturday schedule that remains in effect and we have crews working around-the-clock to get another track back, hopefully for tomorrow morning's service which will enhance the service a little further."
A train that left White Plains at 6:30 a.m. was so crowded that by the time it traveled seven stops, to Mount Vernon, no one could get on. The conductor announced that another train behind would make all local stops. The passengers included many teens on their way to school.
One commuter, who was stuck in Grand Central Tuesday night, called it "a madhouse."
"Stuck in bumper-to-bumper, wall-to-wall of people in Grand Central," she told WCBS 880's Sean Adams. "Everyone was rushing to get an Uber car to get back home."
Wednesday morning, some commuting into the city chose to avoid the train entirely after facing delays and overcrowded trains.
"There's no room on this train and I think the next train's going to be just as packed," one commuter in New Rochelle said.
EXTRA: Click Here For Current Transit Conditions
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy urged patience.
"The MTA assures us that it is doing all that it can to bring the line back to full capacity, and our office will continue to monitor this situation exceptionally closely," he said in a statement.
Metro-North said nearly 100 personnel worked through the night to inspect the structure for any damage and to make temporary repairs.
The fire also involved construction debris, several trailers and vehicles, fire officials said.
Prendergast said initial inspections have been completed, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported. The fire did not cause any damage to the tracks, signals or third rail power systems, the railroad said.
Prendergast said they are hoping to have normal service restored by Friday.
"We expect to have that ready for Friday morning, but that doesn't mean we're not working hard to try to improve that," he said. "But right now, we're saying Friday morning."
In the meantime, NJ TRANSIT is cross-honoring Hudson Line tickets on the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Line trains.
The fire, caused by gasoline that spilled onto a hot generator roared under the el on Tuesday night. It was hot enough to bend a decades old column.
Witnesses say they heard the fire before they saw it.
"Like a loud explosion, like a big bomb," said resident Tom Jones. "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."
People who live nearby say they had been raising their own concerns about the lot well before the fire, CBS2's Janelle Burrell reported.
While the Urban Garden Center has been a part of helping the community for years, residents say the spot where the fire started was a supply area for the business where homeless people were known to camp out.
"The city should have checked them out and seen about their permits and what they did have," resident Kenneth Washington said.
"I went to the city and said, 'What's happening to the neighborhood?," another resident said. "Garbage and people living there."
Locals have long been concerned about the city-owned lot.
"It's just a disaster waiting to happen," Harlem resident Robert Young said. "The city doesn't do its due diligence."
"You can see it and it's all garbage," East Harlem resident Stefanos Thenagoras said. "It's not Urban Garden."
The New York City Economic Development Corporation, or EDC, is responsible for leasing the space and rented it to the Urban Garden Center, a family-owned business known for years for helping to revitalize the Harlem community.
"NYCEDC is currently supporting the FDNY in its investigation of the incident. All EDC tenants are required by lease to adhere to all relevant laws and regulations. If anything is found to have been in violation, we will take swift and appropriate action," Anthony Hogrebe, spokesperson for the EDC, told CBS2 in a statement.
The MTA did not comment to CBS2.
One firefighter suffered a minor injury, but no civilians were hurt.
The massive flames were just steps away front the site of the gas explosion two years ago that killed eight people.
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