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LIRR Service Back to Normal Thursday Following Track Fire

By Janon Fisher | January 29, 2014 5:26pm
 A track fire caused delays on the LIRR Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
A track fire caused delays on the LIRR Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
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MIDTOWN — Long Island Rail Road service was back to normal Thursday morning after an afternoon track fire in an East River tunnel shut down all Manhattan-bound trains and caused delays for evening commuters Wednesday, authorities said.

A small electrical fire broke out on a third rail shortly after 1 p.m., stranding about 100 people mid-tunnel on a westbound LIRR train, a railroad spokesman said.

The commuter railway shut off electricity to the track to allow firefighters to put out the blaze and workers to repair the burnt cable, according to authorities. The stranded train was eventually brought into Penn Station.

Because of the damage to the equipment, some eastbound trains were canceled, causing delays of up to 30 minutes.