NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – MTA officials expressed outrage Wednesday after the entire W subway line had to be suspended because nearly 100 windows were smashed on dozens of trains in a mass act of vandalism.
In total, 97 windows were broken on 45 train cars, leading to a shortage of working trains and forcing the suspension of the line Tuesday evening, according to the MTA.
The windows were smashed over a 29-hour period that began around 1 a.m. Tuesday and continued until around 6 a.m. Wednesday. The MTA said the cost of the damage is around $500,000.
The damage could cost more than $100,000 to repair, officials said.Marc A. Hermann / MTA
Police are reviewing surveillance video to identify the suspects.Marc A. Hermann / MTA
Service along the W line—which serves Queens and Manhattan—remained suspended throughout the day Wednesday but was restored by Thursday.
W line riders were forced to use other lines like the 7, N, Q and R, or city buses.
Crews worked since Tuesday night to repair the damage.Marc A. Hermann / MTA
Train car after train car had its windows smashed.Marc A. Hermann / MTA
Dozens of trains had been repaired by Wednesday morning, but dozens more remained.Marc A. Hermann / MTA
Richard Davey, the president of NYC Transit, called the vandalism "outrageous" and said he was "pissed off."
"Can I say pissed off?" Davey said at a news conference Wednesday. "I mean seriously, I have train crews sitting in that breakroom right now who don't have W trains to run and they want to be out there."
Davey said hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers were left inconvenienced by a senseless act of vandalism. He said the individual or individuals who committed it will undoubtedly be caught thanks to the MTA's extensive camera system.
"I don't know of a place that has more cameras than a Las Vegas casino than we do," he said. "We will find you. We have your picture, I have no doubt. We will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
Officials hoped to have the W trains up and running again sometime Wednesday.Marc A. Hermann / MTA
No arrests had been reported as the work on the trains continued.Marc A. Hermann / MTA
