Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service into and out of Grand Central Madison station was suspended Tuesday morning due to a subterranean electrical fire in a tunnel, FDNY officials said.
Fire officials said the two-alarm fire broke out at around 8:15 a.m.
The fire and smoke resulted in widespread LIRR service disruptions across the system. As of noon, all LIRR trains into and out of Grand Central Madison were being rerouted to Penn Station.
According to the NYC Office of Emergency Management, Grand Central Station remains open and is “operating without incident. ”
It took “several hours” and about 100 firefighters to extinguish the blaze, FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said.
Firefighters had to traverse through heavy, zero-visibility smoke and a “significant amount” of fire before they finally located it after cutting a rolled-down gate.
“It was a heavy smoke condition for the fire department when we were down there,” Tucker said. “We put a lot of water on the fire to get it out, but the fire is now out,” Tucker said.
Three firefighters and one civilian were treated for minor injuries.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, but the incident remains under investigation by the LIRR fire marshal.
LIRR resumed full service to and from Grand Central Madison at around 2:41 p.m.
Commuters are advised to check mta.info for updates on service.
