Daily News from New York, New York • 5

ri mm mm Two more fires snarled IRT service in Brooklyn and IND service in Queens yesterday on the last day of a federal fire-safety investigation of the subway system. At 9:50 a.m., the Fire Department was called to put out a track fire at the Borough Hall IRT station. Service on No. 2 and 3 trains was disrupted for nearly an hour. Smoke pouring from a car undercarriage at 4:30 p.m.

forced the discharge of GG passengers at Northern Blvd. in Queens. Service was restored 4:50 p.m. No injuries were reported in either incident Richard Sisk By RICHARD SISK Federal inspectors said yesterday that they found "quite hazardous'' conditions in their investigation of subway fires here, ranging from kerosene stored near the third rail to miles of tunnel without a working fire extinguisher! "The risk here is at an Mil llOSlOfC 01? "fill 0OU Plan '86 work on Grand Central funnel FT unacceptable level," said National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Burnett at the conclusion of an unprecedented weeklong probe of subway fires. "If it were not, we would not have come." Burnett said he was "not trying to panic people, to stop them from using the subway system." But when asked whether he would allow his family to ride the subways, Burnett replied, "I couldn't give any assurance that they would not be involved in a fire." BURNETT SAID 173 subway fires were reported since the federal inspectors arrived here Dec.

10, including 23 to which the Fire Department responded. His team monitored 133 of the fires and went to the scene of 16, Burnett said. Other groups checked the Transit Authority's training of its personnel, looked at train equipment and maintenance and walked the tracks to check tunnel conditions. Burnett said his teams found the "greatest" fire hazard at the 95th St BUT stop in Brooklyn, where he said a poorly secured paint locker containing open paint cans and kerosene was located near the third rail and "great piles of debris." HE SAID THE inspectors walked the track between the 95th St and 86th St BMT stops without finding a fire extinguisher, although TA standards require working extinguishers to be placed at 300-foot intervals throughout the system. In addition, Burnett said the inspectors found several other locations where a train crew would have to "walk a mile or more" to find a working extinguisher.

In a Dec. 11 series of trash fires on the Broadway IRT, Burnett said it took the TA 25 minutes to turn off the power for firefighters. DAVID FEELEY, TA vice president for operations, said the safety board's observations were "worthwhile" but contained "no major surprises." He acknowledged that "the system is not perfect" but said, "As far as I'm concerned, at this point the system is safe." Burnett said his agency would be making specific recommendations to the TA in the coming months and hoped to submit a final report on the investigation by WY 7 --Ci- I -T Jit -rfr I i 11 I i in i ff nfi -ir--i iriilMWi iitiiiwif- 1 the signal system will be modernized. Additional entrances to the terminal will be built to the north, east and west And what will passengers have when all the work is complete? "Well," said Stangl, "they'll have an improved ride. And a terminal they'll be able to use for another By ROBERT CARROLL Peter Stangl focused his flashlight on a dripping, rust-splotched girder high over Track 23 in Grand Central Terminal.

"That's the sort of thing you've got to start fixing," said Stangl, president of Metro-North Commuter Railroad. "Over time, water leaks in, girders rust, things just get tired." Meeting with reporters yesterday at the far end of the dimly lit platform, Stangl gave a brief rundown of the huge project to rehabilitate the terminal and the Park Ave. train tunnel running north, to 06th St He said work would begin "sometime" in 1986, require 2V4 to 3 years to complete and cost $75 million. For the 85,000 passengers aboard the 540 trains that For more on the Metro-North problems, see the centerfold and an editorial on page 29. daily use the tunnel and terminal there will be delays and possible- schedule disruptions, said Stangl.1 "Most likely one track at a time will be taken out of service in the tunnel," he said.

"We have a year to work but schedules to make certain delays are minimized." FOR SURFACE travelers on Park Ave. the inconvenience could be worse, since stretches of the showplace boulevard will have to be opened up to get to the tunnel. But Stangl is optimistic. "The city has been pretty creative so far in keeping traffic flowing," he said, "very clever." Stangl said he would have no specifics on either the train changes or the street openings until "early 1986." A spokesman for the city Department of Transportation said the 1986 projected date "gives both of us plenty of time for detailed, advance planning." "Coir customers are very understanding if you tell CLARENCE DAVIS DALY NEWS At Grand Central Terminal, Metro-North Commuter Railroad President Peter Stangl contemplates the huge Job of rehabilitating tunnel. 8.

done," said Stangl. "They A big chunk of the $75 mil-just want to be informed, lion will go toward repair or You've got a very old struc- replacement of the girders ture here, 110 to 120 years and concrete supports in the Basically it's in good tunnel, which carry four shape. The people who built electrified tracks to the it were very, very good in terminal, where they fan out terms of design and construe- to a total of 47 tracks on two tion. But there hasn't been a levels, major investment in the tun- New track will be laid in nel for many, many years. the tunnel and in the terminal, Stangl said, overhead "SOME DRAINS, for ex- clearances will be raised.

ample, haven't been cleaned out for years. It's time start speeding, money concrete will be laid under years. And we'll all tracks some of 4 haye the ability, to control wooden costs." nid-J985. i- -1.