by Service on three subway lines remained disrupted on the west side of Manhattan on Friday after a train carrying about 300 people collided with an out-of-service train near West 96th Street a day earlier, causing trains to derail, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said. .
Twenty-four people were injured when a northbound No. 1 train, traveling at slow speed, collided with the second train, which contained four transit workers, around 3 p.m., according to MTA officials. None of the injuries were considered serious.
Work to restore service on lines 1, 2 and 3 continued Friday morning, and the MTA said on its website that outages persisted.
Service would be partially suspended, the agency said, at least during morning rush hours with no trains running on those lines on the Upper West Side.
MTA officials said at a news conference Thursday that the accident did not appear to be related to an equipment malfunction.
The incident began when a No. 1 train stopped at 79th Street because vandals activated its brakes, MTA officials said. The train was out of service and was moving slowly north of the city, passing 96th Street when the train carrying 300 passengers returned to a local track in front of it. The train with passengers was cleared to continue, authorities said.
At a news conference Thursday at the station, Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit, the division of the MTA that operates the subway, said that the train that had been vandalized had many of its brake cables pulled. emergency. The MTA has opened an investigation into the cause of the accident, according to an authority spokesperson.
“Fortunately, there were no serious injuries,” Davey said. “Obviously two trains should not collide with each other. “Let’s get to the bottom of that.”
Davey said that in addition to the 300 people on the passenger train, firefighters and MTA workers also evacuated another 300 to 400 passengers from a train behind it after cutting power to the station.
Davey said he expected crews to be working at the station throughout the night. “It’s a little messy down there,” he said. “It will take us a while to get this service back up and running.”
Lucas Mann, 17, a student at the Special School of Music near Lincoln Center, was in the first car of the No. 1 train when he and other passengers “felt a big jolt.”
“I was afraid,” he added.
Purvi Thacker, 41, said she was on a northbound 2 train that stopped suddenly at 86th Street after the collision between the northernmost trains. She said other passengers became impatient and opened a window once the power went out. Some left the stopped train and walked on the tracks, she said.
“It was just frustrating,” said Thacker, who lives in Manhattan. “It was very hot.”
Subway derailments have been rare since a series of service failures in 2017. At the time, the incidents revealed how much maintenance had been neglected, and after an overhaul, the system’s performance improved dramatically.
The last train derailment involving passengers occurred on September 20, 2020, when an A train left the tracks around 14th Street. More than 100 people were on board and three of them suffered minor injuries.
New York City’s transit system has been enjoying a period of stability as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. Ridership is up and an infusion of state funding has balanced its finances through at least 2027. It’s also about to start raising billions of dollars through a congestion pricing program that aims to generate revenue for improvements. on the city subway and bus. networks.
Mariame Diallo, 15, said she was on a No. 3 train, behind No. 1, when the derailments occurred.
While she and other passengers waited about an hour to get off the train, some people on board opened the subway doors to step out onto the tracks.
Diallo, who was returning home from school, said he had almost boarded train number one that crashed. Instead, he waited for the next train so he could travel with three of his classmates.
“I guess it’s worth it to stay with your friends,” he said.
Erin Nolan and Emma G. Fitzsimmons contributed reports.
