Injured as subway roof caves
A straphanger was injured Wednesday afternoon when a chunk of the ceiling collapsed onto the Borough Hall subway station platform in Brooklyn.
The plaster rained down on the Manhattan-bound 4-and-5 platform just before 4 p.m. as several passengers were waiting for trains.
Pictures on social media show a light dangling above plaster and concrete chunks on the platform.
The injured man, who was hit on the shoulder, declined medical attention.
The incident was the latest black eye for a system that has been slowly crumbling for years.
The collapse “should make abundantly clear to lawmakers in Albany that the New York City subway system is literally falling apart,” said Jaqi Cohen, spokeswoman for the transit-advocacy group the NYPRIG Straphangers Campaign.
“The system is old, overburdened and in desperate need of repair. What riders need on the platform, even more than USB charging stations and free WiFi, is a guarantee that their commute will be safe and reliable.”
Riders called the incident unsettling.“It’s scary, the thought that everything could just crash down on my head at any time,” said Yeilin Concepcion, 20, of Washington Heights. “But I’m not surprised.”
New York City Transit President Andy Byford vowed to “get to the bottom of what happened.”
Byford added, “There is some evidence of water ingress in that you’ve got a bit of paint peeling. This is a very old station, at the end of the day.”
The platform was closed for about two hours after the collapse.