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Fire at Metro North bridge halts Harlem train service

Trains were temporarily suspended in Harlem Monday afternoon after a fire ignited under the 138th Street Metro-North bridge.

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By Sam Levin • September 20, 2010 at 9:00 PM

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Metro-North temporarily suspended train service Monday afternoon, due to a fire in Harlem under the 138th Street bridge. Clouds of smoke were visible from Columbia's campus. Fire Department officials said that the fire blazed under the bridge at the bulkhead pier. Trains were suspended for several hours, and marine units were dispatched to the scene. After the fire erupted earlier in the morning, Metro-North cut service into and out of Manhattan, urging southbound commuters to go to the Yankees-E. 153rd Street stop and transfer to the D or 4 subway line, and directing northbound customers to take the subway to Yankee Stadium to transfer to Metro-North. Fire officials said the fire was under control by 1:35 p.m., and Metro-North released a statement later in the afternoon saying that regular rush-hour service had resumed in and out of Grand Central Terminal on the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven Lines. Representatives from the city's Office of Emergency Management said there were initial reports that the cause of the fire was a transformer, but as of late Monday afternoon, officials said the investigation was ongoing. There were no reported injuries.

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