Metro-North service returned to its regular weekday schedule in time for the morning commute Friday, officials say, days after a fire spurred delays on one of the nation's busiest rail lines.
The railroad says it's completed the necessary work to temporarily brace a column damaged on the elevated tracks on Park Avenue in East Harlem after the fire Tuesday.
Crews worked around the clock to install six temporary steel columns, and several test train runs were conducted over the section of the damaged viaduct, officials say.
Metro-North says all four tracks are now ready for service for the first time since the fire, but warns there will be speed restrictions of 30 mph for now, which could cause some minor delays.
Commuters are advised to check the Metro-North website for updates. NYC Transit has been cross-honoring Metro-North tickets on subways.
Metro-North will continue to work at the site to make other structure repairs to the viaduct, including reinforcing the horizontal steel girders that run underneath it.
The investigation into the fire is continuing. The mayor's office said earlier Thursday that the Manhattan garden center underneath the tracks at East 118th Street, where the fire broke out, wasn't permitted to store large quantities of flammable materials.
The propane, firewood, plywood and other flammable materials at the site fueled a massive blaze sparked by an accidental fuel spill that grew to an inferno.
"Had the business followed the law, FDNY would have assessed the site and determined this storage of flammable materials should not be allowed," the mayor's office said in the statement.
Fire safety expert Glenn Corbett told the I-Team on Wednesday that he was stunned that neither the city or Metro-North picked up on the materials sitting under the tracks sooner, especially since the stretch of track was impacted by the deadly gas explosion in East Harlem in 2014.
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"It should have raised red flags a long time ago," Corbett said over the phone.
One of the owners of The Urban Garden Center declined to comment to NBC 4 New York on Thursday.
