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Last week’s subway accident on the Upper West Side disrupted the commute of thousands of New Yorkers — and prompted federal regulators to launch a tough safety investigation that took on new urgency after an F train derailed in Coney Island on Wednesday.
Unlike many collisions and spin-offs in the subway’s 120-year history, last Thursday’s disaster didn’t happen in the blink of an eye. Rather, the slow collapse was the culmination of dozens of decisions over the course of nearly an hour.
Internal MTA records obtained by Gothamist, accounts from the National Transportation Safety Board and interviews with transit employees provide a detailed timeline of events leading up to the Jan. 4 incident.
2:10 pm
A 10-car train stopped on the first line near the 79th Street station. The train operator alerted the subway’s rail control center that “unruly persons” had made their way into an unused conductor’s cabin and activated the emergency brake.
2:15 pm
The train operator and conductor went to the tracks and reset the brake valve on the subway car, but the train still wouldn’t start. They told the control center they suspected a homeless person had pulled the brakes and called for additional help.
2:35 pm
An inspector at the scene alerts dispatchers to activate several emergency brakes on the train. Transit workers try to reset all the tripped brake valves, which takes at least eight minutes. The brakes of the third car at the front of the train cannot be reset.
Transit managers decided to completely deactivate the first five cars on the train. This means that the supervisor must drive the train blind from the sixth car. An operator in the front vehicle acts as the supervisor’s eyes and ears, directing him via radio. The train arrives at the 79th Street station to let passengers off.
2:47 pm
The crew continues north, with plans to stop the train below 103rd Street on track not used for passenger service before eventually continuing to the 240th Street subway yard in the Bronx.
2:59 pm
Just north of 96th Street, the supervisor—driving blind and relying on the operator—begins moving into the unused lane.
Train No. 1 carrying about 200 passengers moves through the same crossing, moving from the express track to the local track. The disabled train passes through three signals designed to stop trains when they do not have a permit. The two trains collide with each other at slow speed.
The disabled train is pushed into the tunnel wall, and its front car is lifted up. The train with passengers on board was also pushed off the tracks.
“I asked you to stop and stay,” says the worker at the front of the disabled train.
At least 24 people were injured.
5:15 pm
Hundreds of riders are escorted out of a subway tunnel. The scene is full of FDNY and MTA crews.
Aftermath
National Transportation Review Board investigators are at the scene the next day. Jennifer Homendy, president of the NSTB, makes comments that raise eyebrows among transportation insiders. Her team’s investigation will not be limited to the plane’s derailment on January 4. “This is the second incident on New York City Transit property in 37 days,” she said, referring to the subway worker who was dragged and killed by a train near the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station on Nov. 29.
“We want to look at the entire system, including how it is managed and supervised,” Homendy declares.
Full service on Line 1 will not be restored until late Saturday night.
The following Wednesday, a train on the F Line derailed at Coney Island, jumped the tracks and landed just feet from the edge of the line’s elevated structure.
“Derailments happen. They shouldn’t, but they do from time to time,” NYC Transit President Richard Davey said after the F train derailment. “Customers should feel safe when using the subway.”
Curious passengers
a question:
Why are trains in other major cities more reliable and run more frequently than here? As is the case in London, Paris and Barcelona. It seems like everywhere else I visit, I don’t have to wait more than 3-5 minutes for a train, but wait times here can sometimes be between 12 and 25 minutes.
– Maureen from Manhattan
Answer:
MTA officials often point out that none of the cities I mention have 24/7 subway service. New York City’s 24-hour system hampers its ability to perform maintenance on its tracks.
There’s another major difference between our subways and the ones I mentioned: The vast majority of trains in the New York system are staffed by two crew members: the operator, who drives the train, and the conductor, who opens and closes the doors. All Underground trains in London, Paris and Barcelona operate with only one crew. And New York’s policy of running a two-person train effectively doubles the cost of running frequent subway service.
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