Smoke pours through Astor Place after MTA work train erupts in flames

Subway fire injures 12 and forces passenger train evacuation

NEW YORK, N.Y. — A pre-dawn fire aboard an MTA work train filled the Astor Place subway station with heavy smoke Tuesday, forcing firefighters to evacuate a passenger train and leaving 12 people injured.

The FDNY responded at approximately 2:15 a.m. to reports of a fire involving a four-car MTA work train at the Astor Place subway station in Manhattan.

When firefighters arrived, they encountered heavy smoke at both street level and inside the station from a fully involved vacuum train operating below ground.

According to the FDNY, crews deployed handlines to extinguish the fir...