NYC subway train derails, scaring passengers
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, New Jersey. She said the A train jerked and began shaking violently as it approached the station at 125th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.
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.
It’s unclear what effect the situation would have on the afternoon commute. For now, Lhota said, service on the affected train line is suspended.
Delays were reported throughout the subway system, which has been plagued by problems this year.
Jack Cox, a software developer, was on the train when it began jostling, and he felt a “large thump.” It all lasted about 30 seconds, he said.
“During the whole time, it was just like, “What’s going on? What’s going to happen?’ Then it stopped. I didn’t have time to be scared before then, but I looked around and the woman next to me was curled up in some sort of fetal tuck.”
Cox said smoke started coming in from one end of the car. “It wasn’t heavy smoke, but it was frightening,” he said.