New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is calling for an investigation into the subway meltdown that stranded thousands of riders for hours below ground Wednesday night, demanding the MTA do a deep dive into what went wrong.
Consolidated Edison is also investigating.
The MTA says power was lost around 5:30 p.m. between Jay Street-Metrotech and Hoyt-Schermerhorn stations in Brooklyn because of an underground fire, which disrupted service on the A, C, F and G lines at the height of the evening rush. Trains along those lines lost power, trapping customers below ground, or had to be rerouted.
According to the MTA, 3,500 riders had to be helped off two F trains that were stalled due to power loss. It took several hours to complete the evacuations, the agency said, which escalated reports of underground chaos. Some people said they had to exit the trains using underground maintenance tunnels.
Absolutely brutal commute, stuck on the F train for 2 hours before making an emergency exit via the subway track and stairs to the street. Complete sh*tshow but gotta credit @FDNY and the @MTA staff on our train for getting us through it! pic.twitter.com/neqFclWSTm
— Jennifer Young (@JenYoung2) December 12, 2024
Three additional trains also lost power and were briefly stuck, but managed to move backward to stations with power.
A total of four people suffered minor injuries, according to the FDNY. The incident was declared under control about three hours after it started, though service on A, C and F lines remained impacted into early Thursday.
trapped in an unpowered rush hour F train with no a/c for the last 70 minutes til fdny got us out through a damn maintenance tunnel at smith and atlantic pic.twitter.com/SmLxUmGMXt
— lap (@LaplaceInPlace) December 12, 2024
“We thank the hundreds of transit workers, firefighters, NYPD officers and responders from other agencies who worked to quickly assist riders on two trains stuck between stations following a Con Ed power failure,” NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said in a statement late Wednesday. “Fortunately, evacuations were orderly and there appear to be no serious injuries. NYC Transit will work with Con Ed to understand how a limited outage in a redundant system could create a significant disruption to service.”
Just evacuated an F mid station.
Major shout out to @NYCTSubway personell for the calmness, professionalism, and instruction throughout. Shouts to @FDNY for getting us off the train too.
Crazy walking in the tunnel and out an emergency exit to steeet level! pic.twitter.com/YczJggMRkm
— Maximillian (@MaxSholl) December 12, 2024
Was trapped in an F train without power underground near Bergen for 2 hours, along with several hundred other justifiably pissed off New Yorkers. We had to evacuate. pic.twitter.com/SCKyki3fXD
— Ryan McCarthy (@mccarthyryanj) December 12, 2024
