34 hurt as subway derails

DAVID PORTER

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A subway train derailed near a station in Harlem on Tuesday, frightening passengers and resulting in minor injuries as hundreds of people were evacuated from trains along the subway line.

“We started seeing sparks through the windows. People were falling,” said passenger Susan Pak, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. She said the A train jerked and began shaking violently as it approached the station at 125th St. and St. Nicholas Ave.

Two of the eight cars on the train derailed just before 10 a.m. Sparks from the skidding train briefly ignited garbage on the track, but there was no serious fire, said Joe Lhota, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The cause was under investigation. Lhota said the emergency braking system on the train triggered, but it wasn’t immediately clear why. He said he didn’t know yet if a passenger had pulled the emergency brake.

“This, to the best of my knowledge, does not look like a failure on the part of equipment, does not look like a failure on the part of the track itself,” he said. “We need to determine what it is.”

Fire officials said 34 people suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Three other trains were in the tunnel at the time of the derailment, he said. All were evacuated.

Delays were reported throughout the subway system, which has been plagued by problems this year.

“People are terrified,” John Raskin, Riders Alliance executive director, told NY1 TV. “It’s clear we have an outdated and crumbling public transit system. It’s not just a convenience — it’s dangerous . ... If this doesn’t get the attention of Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo and state lawmakers, I don’t know what will.”