By Evan Simko-Bednarski
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is investigating what caused a four-car vacuum train to catch fire as it traveled through the Astor Place station in the East Village early Tuesday morning.
The two-alarm fire broke out shortly after 2 a.m. FDNY officials said, causing heavy smoke in the station and aboveground.
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“When units arrived they encountered a lot of heavy smoke, not only at street level but also at the station level,” FDNY Assistant Chief Tom Currao said.
Eight transit workers and six firefighters were injured in the blaze, mostly suffering from smoke inhalation, according to the FDNY . None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
A source with knowledge of the situation said the injured transit workers included five members of the work train’s crew and three Astor Place station workers. One was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, while the other seven were taken to area hospitals and quickly released.
Two in-service subways were also impacted by the smoke. A Brooklyn -bound No. 4 train was evacuated during the fire, and a downtown No. 6 train reported the smoke was too heavy to stop at Astor Place .
Crews cut power to the tracks beneath the East Village around 2:30 a.m. , knocking out service on the Lexington Line from Spring St. to 14th St.
FDNY crews brought the blaze under control just before 4 a.m. , though water on the tracks — and drainage complications due to debris — meant full service did not resume until just after 6:30 a.m.
A social media post from the MTA around noon showed Bill Amarosa , NYC Transit’s head of subways, examining the damaged car.
“Grateful no one was seriously hurt and service was restored for most of rush hour on Lexington Line,” the post read, adding that an investigation into the incident was “ongoing.”
Sources told the Daily News that the fire appeared to have started on the second of the train’s four cars.
Vacuum cars are responsible for cleaning the trackbed of debris. A similar car under contract with federal railway Amtrak caught fire in May beneath Penn Station .
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