Nightmare on the A train
The city subways spiraled further into crisis Tuesday morning when “human error” caused two cars of an A train to jump the tracks in Harlem — sparking a fire and leading terrified passengers to smash out windows and escape into the smoky tunnel.
“I’m like, we’re trapped and we’re going to burn to death,” said straphanger Kelly Kopp, who was onboard the southbound train when it derailed at about 9:50 a.m. “I saw an explosion of flames. People started screaming and it was chaos.”
The train was approaching the 125th Street-St. Nicholas Avenue station when it struck an unsecured piece of replacement rail left lying on the tracks, the MTA said.
“Storing equipment in between tracks is a common prac- tice,” MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said in a statement. “The key to this being an effective and safe practice is making sure that the extra equipment is properly bolted down, which does not appear to have happened in this case.”
The train hitting the unsecured rail triggered the emergency brake, which can be engaged by sensors beneath train cars.
As the cars left the tracks and scraped a wall, straphangers felt a jolt. Moments later, the lights cut out, plunging panicked passengers into darkness.
“The train went dark completely for two to three minutes, and then in the other car there were people banging on the windows,” said Enrique Garcia. “There was clearly an emergency.”
Sparks from the derailment set track-bed debris ablaze, and smoke filled the train.
Riders feared the cars were on the verge of going up in flames and resorted to pushing out windows to make their escape.
“Someone kicked the glass out,” Kopp said. “I jumped on the tracks because I thought, ‘I don’t want to be on the train because it’s going to be on fire.’ ”
In all, 39 people suffered minor injuries — with 17 taken to hospitals, officials said. Most of the victims suffered smoke inhalation or the effects of the stifling heat in the tunnel.
Passengers said many people become sick on the train, vomit- ing or struggling to breathe as they anxiously waited for help.
“There was a woman who was sick in the stomach,” said Zayn Diaz, 17. “There was a woman who could not breathe. There was another in a wheelchair.”
The derailment affected seven trains in the area, crippling the morning commute.
Some on the affected trains passed out or suffered panic attacks in the hot, crowded cars, first responders said.
“The air shut off, the power shut off. We couldn’t breathe,” said Sharla Daniels, who was stuck on a D train near the 135th Street station. “We had to pry the door open because people were starting to get . . . faint. I tried to stay calm. It took a while to get us.”
Jasmen Pecora, who had just left her overnight job as a store supervisor, experienced shortness of breath on the dark train.
“I couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do. I’m scared of the subway now.”
Authorities guided some 800 riders in the dark through train cars into stations.
Another 500 riders, on their own, embarked on a treacherous trek through the smoke-filled tunnel. Rescuers rushed over to accompany them to safety.
“It was scary,” said Jonathan Morales, 34, who had waited two hours on a stalled D train.
“Every step I was taking I was making sure I was stepping on gravel and wood, nowhere near metal or anything. I kept walking towards the light — literally.”
Renee Irving, 60, walks with a cane. “I had a knee replacement and I had to climb down a ladder,” Irving said. “I’m deathly afraid of rats. I started to sweat and cry when I got on the tracks.”
While the MTA cut power to the electrified third rail, Lhota and FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro later reminded riders that walking on the tracks without MTA-worker supervision is extremely risky.
“The people who ended up on the tracks self-evacuated,” Nigro said. “It’s a very dangerous thing to be on the tracks.”
The derailed train was removed from the tunnel in the afternoon, but the MTA said Tuesday evening that workers would be toiling through the night to restore normal service for Wednesday’s morning rush.
The derailment was the latest setback for a subway system plagued recently by delays as a result of aging infrastructure.
“One of the things that I will do while I’m here is to rebuild the confidence in the ability of the MTA,” Lhota vowed.
“We transport millions of people every day. We want to do it safely. We want to do it as quickly and as efficiently as we possibly can, the way we’ve always done it and the way we will continue to do it.”