​​This information is preliminary and subject to change.

​On May 8, 2025, about 7:34 a.m. local time, a third rail feeder cable fire on Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH) track G in a railroad tunnel near Grove Street Station in Jersey City, New Jersey, resulted in smoke-related injuries to five PATH employees and service disruption.[1] (See figure.) Visibility conditions inside the tunnel were low with dim lighting, and weather was not a factor.

​About 7:25 a.m., the crew of eastbound train 719 operating on track H reported to a PATH trainmaster that a fire was burning on westbound track G, just west of Grove Street Station.[2] Shortly thereafter, westbound train 724 conducted a station stop at Grove Street Station where the engineer of that train also reported the fire on track G west of the platform. About 7:34 a.m., the train 724 operator pulled the train approximately two car lengths west past the station so that the conductor could dismount. The PATH trainmaster stopped train traffic on track G, had the third rail de-energized, and then the conductor attempted to extinguish the fire. A PATH operations examiner and car inspector joined the conductor at the scene with additional fire extinguishers, and the employees extinguished the fire. [3] PATH resumed operations on track G, and train 724 proceeded west about 7:44 a.m.

Following PATH’s extinguishing of the track fire, five subsequent trains made station stops at the Grove Street Station on track G before the fire reignited, and it was reported to the control desk about 7:53 a.m. About 7:56 a.m., westbound train 734 stopped at Grove Street Station as three PATH employees—the operations examiner, a car inspector, and a rail power employee—once again approached the track fire to try to put it out. As the employees attempted to extinguish the fire, smoke accumulated on the station platform.[4] Port Authority police officers, who had arrived on scene to assist with the fire situation, evacuated passengers from train 734 and from the platform away from the smoke. Soon after, police also evacuated the train 734 crew from the train and Grove Street Station. The PATH operations examiner, car inspector, and rail power employee, along with the conductor and engineer of train 734, were treated for smoke-related injuries and released from the hospital.

While on scene, the National Transportation Safety Board examined the track, third rail, connectors, and cable at the accident location; reviewed video footage of the platform and track area, data from the train’s head-end image recorder, and event recorder data; conducted interviews; and reviewed PATH policies and procedures.

Our investigation is ongoing. Future investigative activity will focus on PATH’s policies, practices, and procedures related to third rail inspections and to fire suppression; the overall condition of third rail feeder power components throughout their system; and PATH’s procedures to address inspection and maintenance of their propulsion power cable system. 

Parties to the investigation are: 

• PATH; 
• the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; and 
• the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.