Anatomy of a subway crash

Plus: Not all teachers hate congestion pricing [On The Way - from WNYC and Gothamist] Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( A play by play of last week’s derailment on the 1 line By [Clayton Guse]( Last week’s [subway crash on the Upper West Side]( gummed up commutes for thousands of New Yorkers — and prompted federal regulators to launch an aggressive safety probe that gained new urgency after an F train derailed in Coney Island on Wednesday. Unlike many collisions and derailments in the subway’s 120-year history, last Thursday’s calamity didn’t happen in a flash. Rather, the slow-moving crash was the culmination of dozens of decisions over nearly an hour. Internal MTA records obtained by Gothamist, accounts from the National Transportation Safety Board and interviews with transit employees offer a detailed timeline of events leading up to the Jan. 4 incident. 2:10 p.m. A 10-car train on the 1 line comes to a screeching halt near the 79th Street station. The train operator alerts the subway’s rail control center that “unruly persons” made their way into an unused conductor cab and activated the emergency brakes. 2:15 p.m. The train’s operator and conductor go onto the tracks and reset the brake valve on the subway car, but the train still isn’t working. They tell the control center they suspect a homeless person pulled the brake and request additional help. 2:35 p.m. An inspector on the scene alerts dispatchers that multiple emergency brakes have been activated on the train. Transit workers attempt to reset all the tripped brake valves, which takes at least eight minutes. The brakes on the third car from the front of the train cannot be reset. Transit managers decide to fully deactivate the first five cars on the train. That means a supervisor must drive the train blind from the sixth car. An operator in the front car serves as the supervisor’s eyes and ears, directing him over radio. The train pulls into the 79th Street station to let out the passengers. 2:47 p.m. The crew continues north, with plans to park the train beneath 103rd Street on a track not used for passenger service before eventually continuing to the 240th Street subway yard in the Bronx. 2:59 p.m. Just north of 96th street, the supervisor – who is driving blind and relying on the operator – begins to transfer to the unused track. A 1 train carrying roughly 200 passengers is moving through the same crossing, transferring from the express track to the local track. The disabled train passes through three signals designed to stop trains when they don’t have clearance. The two trains crash into each other at a slow speed. The disabled train is shoved into the tunnel wall, and its front car is lifted upwards. The train with passengers aboard is also shoved off the tracks. “I told you to stop and stay,” the operator at the front of the disabled train says. At least 24 people are injured. 5:15 p.m. Hundreds of riders are escorted out of the subway tunnel. The scene is flooded with FDNY and MTA crews. The aftermath National Transportation Review Board investigators are on the scene the next day. NSTB Chair Jennifer Homendy makes comments that raise eyebrows among transit insiders. Her team’s investigation will not be limited to the Jan. 4 derailment. “This is the second accident on New York City Transit’s property in 37 days,” she said, referring to a subway track worker who was [dragged and killed by a train]( near the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station on Nov. 29. “We are going to want to look at the entire system, including how it is managed and supervised,” Homendy announces. Full service won’t be restored on the 1 line [until late Saturday night](. The following Wednesday, a train on the F line [derailed in Coney Island]( jumping the tracks and landing just feet from the edge of the line’s elevated structure. "Derailments do happen. They shouldn't, but they do from time to time," NYC Transit President Richard Davey says [after the F train derailment](. "Customers should feel safe taking the subway." What New York is reading this week [Gov. Hochul at an MTA press conference]( Spencer Platt/Getty Images [Gov. Hochul wants to extend the 2nd Ave. subway to West Harlem]( - The governor announced during her State of the State address this week plans to add three more Q train stops along 125th Street. [Read more](. - F train service was restored in southern Brooklyn ahead of Thursday morning’s commute while authorities continue investigating yesterday's derailment. [Read more](. - Police said an NJ Transit bus driver fatally struck a 56-year-old pedestrian in Fort Lee early Wednesday morning. [Read more](. - Pulling the subway's emergency brake for an "unjustified" reason — like in the case of last week's 1 train derailment — isn't uncommon. The MTA says it happened 1,748 times last year. ([The New York Times]( - Authorities have shut down dozens of car dealerships for selling bogus paper license plates to drivers trying to avoid New York City tolls. ([Streetsblog]( - A new two-way dedicated busway on Livingston Street in downtown Brooklyn is now complete. ([AM New York]( - "What are they doing? This is embarrassing": Not all New York City teachers are on board with their union's lawsuit to block congestion pricing. ([Curbed]( Curious commuter “Why are trains in other large cities more reliable and run more often than here? Such as in London, Paris, Barcelona. It seems in every other place I visit, I don’t have to wait more than 3-5 minutes for a train but wait times here can sometimes be 12-25 minutes.” - Maureen from Manhattan What Clayton says: MTA officials often make the point that none of the cities you mention have 24/7 subway service. New York City’s around-the-clock system hinders its ability to perform maintenance on its tracks. There’s another key difference between our subway and the ones you listed: The vast majority of the trains in New York’s system are staffed with two crew members: An operator who drives the train, and a conductor that opens and closes the doors. London, Paris and Barcelona all staff their subway trains with just one crew member. And New York’s policy of two-person train operation effectively doubles the cost of running more frequent subway service. Have a question? Follow [@Gothamist on Instagram]( for special opportunities and prompts to submit questions. If you're not on Instagram, email [cguse@wnyc.org](mailto:cguse@wnyc.org ?subject=Curious%20Commuter)or [snessen@wnyc.org](mailto:snessen@wnyc.org?subject=Curious%20Commuter) with the subject line "Curious Commuter question." You must provide your first name + borough (or city if outside of NYC) to have your question considered. Service tips - Friday night through early Monday, no D trains will run in the Bronx between 161 St-Yankee Stadium and Norwood-205 St. - Friday night through early Monday, Coney Island-bound F trains and Church Av-bound G trains will skip 4 Av-9 St, 15 St-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Pkwy. - Friday night through early Monday, there will be no J train service between Crescent St, Brooklyn and Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer, Queens. - Queensboro Plaza, a highly trafficked station in Long Island City, will have not have weekend subway service for all of January. [Read more.]( - Through the first quarter of 2024 the M train will not travel above 57th street, and the F train will run on the E line between Rockefeller Center and Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave. These changes to the F line means there's no subway service at Roosevelt Island, but the MTA is providing shuttle buses instead. More details [here](. - Every borough currently has one free bus route. [Find yours](. - Check the [MTA's site]( for a complete list of service changes. This week in NYC transit history [Mayor Giuliani being sworn in] Mark Peterson/Getty Images Giuliani, MTA declare war on subway panhandlers Thirty years ago this week, Transit Authority police brass and Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced a new directive to aggressively kick beggars out of the subway system. Transit Police Chief Michael O’Connor said police would boot people out of the subway the moment they were caught asking for money. He said they would issue $50 fines to someone caught panhandling a second time, and “recidivist or incorrigible” beggars would face up to 10 days in jail. The announcement came 10 days into Giuliani’s mayoralty. He’d campaigned on a pledge to get tough on crime. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [YouTube]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. 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