(The following article by John Valenti was posted on Newsday.com on September 29.)
NEW YORK — The day after a fire in one of the four East River tunnels owned by Amtrak forced the cancellation of all Long Island Rail Road service for hours between Penn Station and Jamaica, officials said it would lead to a re-examination of evacuation and safety procedures.
While there were no commuter trains in the tunnel at the time of the fire, railroad officials admitted the location of the main fire and two subsequent minor fires could have made an evacuation difficult.
“Certainly, we’re going to do a ‘lessons-learned’ and re-examine all of our procedures,” Long Island Rail Road president Jim Dermody said. “I think the tunnels are very safe. We go through elaborate procedures to make sure … But there’s always more you can do. You can be certain we will learn from this.”
Officials are investigating the cause of the main fire, in Tunnel 2. Amtrak officials said it apparently began when a signal line came into contact with a power line used to power Amtrak trains. The resulting power surge blew out circuit breakers and at least one transformer, Amtrak officials said, and knocked down another power line.
The main fire occurred near the tunnel-level opening to the so-called First Avenue Shaft, a 10-story, winding staircase used by emergency responders to travel from street level into the tunnel from First Avenue near 34th Street. That fire is believed to have spread into one of the connector corridors between Tunnels 1 and 2, a corridor needed in some scenarios for emergency evacuation.
Worse, minor fires reportedly broke out at both ends of Tunnel 2 — one on the tracks near Control Tower F in Long Island City, one near Penn Station — although the latter apparently started when officials attempted to re-boot power to the system, Dermody said.
The four tunnels, owned by Amtrak and leased by the LIRR, were opened in 1910 and are used weekday mornings and afternoons by about 250,000 commuters.
Corridors with double fire doors connect Tunnels 1 and 2 and Tunnels 3 and 4 in six places. The LIRR has exclusive use of Tunnels 3 and 4 and shares the other tunnels with Amtrak and New Jersey Transit.
The current evacuation plan utilized by LIRR calls for trains to be removed from the tunnel under power or under tow by a diesel locomotive. The next option calls for riders to be taken onto the tunnel benchwall — a narrow platform that runs the 12,920-foot length of each tunnel — or to the track bed to walk out of the tunnel to Long Island City or Penn Station.
The last resort is for riders to be evacuated from one tunnel to the adjacent tunnel via the connector corridors. The emergency shaft staircase is for access by emergency personnel.
The main fire, in Tunnel 2, was on the trackbed and in the connector corridor, a railroad source said. Firefighters needed potassium bicarbonate, known as Purple K, to extinguish the fire, which Dermody termed “intense.”
Since 2000, the Long Island Rail Road has earmarked $220 million in safety improvements to the tunnels, Dermody said.
Wayside phones for emergency responders have been installed every 400 feet. Emergency lighting has been upgraded. Security measures, following the attack on the World Trade Center, have been installed. And the tunnel standpipes, which provide water for firefighters, are being extended the entire tunnel lengths and are now 88 percent complete.
A new ventilation plant and emergency shaft in Long Island City will be complete by 2006. Replacement of the First Avenue shaft is due to begin next year and will include a staircase 3 feet wide with landings every 10 steps. The staircase will provide emergency egress for commuters, as well as access for emergency personnel.
“We think we have pretty good procedures in place,” Dermody said. “But we’re still going to look at this and ask: ‘What can I do better?'”