New Yorkers Brace for Rough Commute as Fire Stalls LIRR Lines
New Yorkers Brace for Rough Commute as Fire Stalls LIRR Lines
(Bloomberg) -- The Long Island Railroad suspended some routes Friday afternoon just as the weekend rush hour was due to start after a 4-alarm fire at a recycling center in Queens.
“Normal service remains suspended until further notice on the Pt Jefferson, Ronkonkoma, Oyster Bay, and Hempstead branches,” the train operator said in a tweet, adding that extra trains would run from Penn Station to Babylon during the evening commute.
Emergency personnel are responding to the fire reported at Jamaica Avenue and Hollis Avenue in Queens, Notify NYC said in a statement, adding that smoke and traffic delays should be expected. The LIRR posted multiple images on its Twitter account of billowing black smoke at the scene as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.
LIRR riders will likely see their evening commute be “severely impacted,” New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a separate statement. Customers of the impacted branches should consider traveling via the Babylon Branch, West Hempstead Branch, Montauk Branch or Port Washington Branch, it said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Jose Valero in New York at mvalero3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Clementine Fletcher at cfletcher5@bloomberg.net, Nathan Crooks, Libby McGowan
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