NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday ordered the MTA to work with Con Edison to figure out what led to a power failure that left thousands of subway commuters “trapped underground for two hours” in Downtown Brooklyn on Wednesday evening.
In a statement Thursday, Hochul said, “New Yorkers deserve a world-class subway system, and thousands of commuters experienced unacceptable service issues last night due to an electrical issue.”
“No one deserves to be trapped underground for two hours, or face such significant delays when trying to commute home from work,” she continued. “For that reason, I have directed the MTA to do a full review with Con Edison of this incident to determine the cause of the delay and make sure it cannot happen in the future. We must invest in the system's state of good repair and fix problems that should have been taken care of decades ago.”
The FDNY rescued roughly 3,500 passengers on two stalled F trains after power was lost around 5:30 pm. between the Jay Street-MetroTech and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street stations.
Passengers took to X to describe the “absolutely brutal commute” that forced them on foot through a “damn maintenance tunnel.”
The evacuation took several hours and involved members of the FDNY assisting passengers out of the train cars and up service stairways that led to the street above.
The evacuation effort was completed by 8:20 p.m., officials said. Four people suffered minor injuries, and one of them was hospitalized.
Three additional trains were briefly stuck without power but were ultimately able to move backwards to the stations, according to the MTA. Disruptions along the A/C/F/G lines also forced even more trains to be rerouted.
The outage appears to have been caused at least in part by "a fire and explosion" at a 90-year-old electrical substation, MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said, adding it "speaks to the urgency of making investments to the very old pieces of our system," as the substation "should have been repaired and replaced decades ago."
In a statement on Wednesday night, NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow tipped his hat to the city workers who assisted riders.
“We thank the hundreds of transit workers, firefighters, NYPD officers and responders from other agencies who worked to quickly assist riders on two trains stuck between stations following a Con Ed power failure,” Crichlow said. “Fortunately, evacuations were orderly and there appear to be no serious injuries. NYC Transit will work with Con Ed to understand how a limited outage in a redundant system could create a significant disruption to service.”
Riders Alliance spokesman Danny Pearlstein released a statement after more transit system issues Thursday morning, saying, "With power, signal and mechanical failures again delaying riders on our aging subway system, it's clear that Governor Hochul was right to unpause congestion pricing and that she must continue to prioritize funding for the next slate of transit upgrades in her budget next month."