While there is much discussion of a fire that occurred at an LIRR Switch Tower controlling movements through their Jamaica (Queens) NY station at other sites, some not exactly representative of "All The News That's Fit to Print", allow the "paper of record' to do the talking here:
A short in a pair of waterlogged track cables in Queens on Monday led to the near-total shutdown of the Long Island Rail Road and hours of waiting for thousands of stranded commuters, a frustrating reminder of the fragility of a rail network still dependent on antiquated equipment.
Embedded along the railroad tracks by Jamaica Station, and soaked by rain from the night before, two or more cables shorted out around 11 a.m., the authorities said, sending a pulse of electricity into a nearby train control tower and setting fire to the century-old equipment inside.