MTA trash train leads to big, stinking delays
This “Summer of Hell” really stinks.
An MTA worker improperly loaded a subway trash train Tuesday — and garbage that fell onto the tracks caused massive delays that affected eight different subway lines during the morning rush.
The agency blamed “operator error” for the 6 a.m. nightmare.
A southbound Q train struck the rubbish — which set off the emergency brakes — and became stuck north of the Canal Street station.
That same Q train stalled again 45 minutes later, at DeKalb Avenue station — causing delays along southbound B,D,E,F,M,N,Q and R lines.
The MTA said the snafu is under investigation.
“New York City Transit and the MTA have zero tolerance for worker errors that cause service problems,” the agency said in a statement. “Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken as necessary pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation.”
The delays stranded sweaty straphangers on sweltering subway platforms and forced others to cram into at-capacity cars.
“It was like an hour and 15 minutes. I was coming from 96th Street. It should’ve taken a half-hour,” griped Mo Jackson about his commute on the Q express train, which was running local.
“It’s crazy. Everything is screwed up,” Jackson, 34, said. “I had to take the Q because I wasn’t getting nowhere. It’s slowing me down, taking up most of my day!”
Estelle Tsantes, 73, patiently waited for a Manhattan-bound R train at DeKalb, as frantic commuters rushed past.
“Two-hour delays!” one breathless woman shouted as she bolted from a Brooklyn-bound Q train.
“It’s always a long wait,” Tsantes said of the ongoing subway problems. “I used to love the subway, but now I’ve had much more delays than ever before.”
The retired teacher worried what Gov. Cuomo’s proposed congestion-pricing plan would mean for future subway service.
“They keep talking about congestion pricing, about driving cars into the city — that means there willl bbe more riders on the subway,” Tsantes said.
Another fed-up commuter, Sterling Carmen, 22, suggested the MTA should “get the finances in order.”
“Waiting 15 minutes for a subway is too long during a commute,” he said while waiting for aQ train at Times Square.
Service on the 7 train was also suspended Wednesday, as the FDNY investigated a smoke condition in the Steinway Tunnel at around 8:52 a.m. Service was restored about 30 minutes later.