Update: Subway Service Restored But Bypassing West 4th

This morning's West 4th Street subway fire caused a lot of excitement downtown. First of all, the new helicopters: The nation loves seeing New Yorkers have problems with their underground trains. Second, Sixth Avenue's streets were closed, with traffic backed up for blocks. Third, tons of firefighters and police officers on the scene. Subway service was restored by 11:30AM, but with the Sixth Avenue lines running on Eight Avenue. Reroutings, via NY1:

- The A line also remained suspended between Columbus Circle and Jay Street.
- The D is running on the R line from DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn to 57th Street in Manhattan.
- The F is running on the G line from Bergen Street in Brooklyn to Queens Plaza.
- And the G was suspended from Court Square to Fourth Avenue and the E was suspended in Manhattan.

Thanks to all our readers for your amazing reports the morning commutes. Waiting in a tunnel for a half hour; varying reports of MTA helpfulness and disinterest; smelling like smoke - hell, we have more on-the-scene commentary than the AP! Please let us know more!

And storeowners are a little bit annoyed about the closing of the streets - there's business as stake. Maybe the firefighters and police officers will decide to have lunch in that area, though this might be another problem for the IFC Center cafe.

Photographs from Jake Dobkin