F Train Loses Power and AC For Almost One Hour - Desperate Riders Break Through Doors

[Via Garibaldi 8]

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Subway-Train-From-Hell-Pulls-Up-No-Power-No-Air-Conditioning-Desperate-Riders-Try-to-Get-Out-426638211.html

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

This is insane, although good thing that everyone is alive.  Reporters don't even have to look too far in order to get any local stories, because with the MTA there's always something going on (at least on the subways), which the agency is to blame for (and for multiple reasons).

[N6 Limited]

Wow which direction was the train heading? If that was a R160 they could have opened the end doors to get ventilation.

[BreeddekalbL]

plus was debating this in another forum supposedly i heard someone say that the trains in the 1930's-60's had a glass breaking mechanism and it could have been of use

[N6 Limited]

plus was debating this in another forum supposedly i heard someone say that the trains in the 1930's-60's had a glass breaking mechanism and it could have been of use

There must be emergency windows like on the Bus, no?

[BreeddekalbL]

There must be emergency windows like on the Bus, no?

 

on r46s i don't think so

[Deucey]

Wow which direction was the train heading? If that was a R160 they could have opened the end doors to get ventilation.

Was stuck on a R46 south of 207th St for an hour due to a track fire in the station. The train inched to the platform so the motorman could open the first door and evacuate us. Conductor started yelling for us to evacuate.

 

Problem was that on R46 trains, the doors at the end of each car is locked for our safety. never unlocked the doors for us to evacuate.

 

I think locked doors on a train system where everything - including new and refurbished trains - break down daily is a huge safety hazard, and should have all doors unlocked so stuck passengers can not suffocate to death. And I think that concern trumps worries over passengers on tracks.

[CTK246]

Wow which direction was the train heading? If that was a R160 they could have opened the end doors to get ventilation.

Southbound

[Wallyhorse]

Was stuck on a R46 south of 207th St for an hour due to a track fire in the station. The train inched to the platform so the motorman could open the first door and evacuate us. Conductor started yelling for us to evacuate.

 

Problem was that on R46 trains, the doors at the end of each car is locked for our safety. never unlocked the doors for us to evacuate.

 

I think locked doors on a train system where everything - including new and refurbished trains - break down daily is a huge safety hazard, and should have all doors unlocked so stuck passengers can not suffocate to death. And I think that concern trumps worries over passengers on tracks.

The problem is, it's "dammed if you do, dammed if you don't," because they you run the risks of idiots who decide to ride outside the cars, especially those who think it's "macho" to do so (that was actually part of an ad campaign against doing it in the early 1980's when it actually was looked at by some as being "macho" to be riding outside).  Then you have those stupid enough to try to subway surf and so forth and those not knowing when to move and when not to and......

[Lawrence St]

The end doors on the R46's are locked so that when the train rounds tight curves, somebody crossing cars doesn't slip and end up being grinded.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

This was during the heart of rush hour. Train was packed. Happened near Broadway and Lafayette. That area is bad enough with overcrowding. Must've been absolute hell. The has yet to identify the source of the outage.

[Lawrence St]

No lie, delays have been appearing a lot lately in terms of rush hour.

[danielhg121]

Has anybody else waited over an hour and was stuck on a train? I feel bad for these people. And there was no a/c, well there was a power outage so makes sense.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using NYC Transit Forums mobile app

[QM1to6Ave]

In the video, it looks like they needed to pry open the doors even after the train platformed, unless I'm not seeing it correctly? Why wouldn't the doors have opened the second they platformed?

[BronxBombers]

Has anybody else waited over an hour and was stuck on a train? I feel bad for these people. And there was no a/c, well there was a power outage so makes sense.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using NYC Transit Forums mobile app

 

The longest I've waited on a stuck train was 30 minutes. I was on the and it was stuck on the express track at 23rd St. But I feel bad for those people being stuck for an hour with no A/C. That's just terrible.

[Lance]

Yet again, the MTA manages to take a terrible incident and somehow makes it much worse than it should've been. Obviously, nothing could be done, other than the usual maintenance procedures, to prevent a catastrophic failure of the train. However, the response following the incident leaves much to be desired. From the report, it seems like the train crew was pretty much MIA. I understand neither the conductor or the operator can do much to move a dead train, but it doesn't take much to get on the PA (or walk through the cars if necessary) and inform riders of the situation and what's going on. Hiding in the cab does not help matters in the slightest; in fact, it will likely make things worse, which actually happened in this case. People are very panicky when faced with these kind of circumstances.

 

On that subject, where was the response from RCC? Why does it take nearly an hour to rescue stranded passengers from a dead train? When it became obvious the train would not move under its own power, why was the train not evacuated in a more timely fashion? I understand that it was the height of the PM rush, but with a stalled train, services were already rerouted around the incident, so why wasn't the third rail shut off and the passengers walked back to the nearest station?

 

These kinds of incidents not only highlight the age and condition of the subway, but also illustrates what kind of response the MTA presents versus what the response should be. There is absolutely no reason why passengers should have to wait around on a dead train with no air conditioning like cattle. Something has to change, if nothing else, the way these events are handled, because quite frankly, this is unacceptable.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

In the video, it looks like they needed to pry open the doors even after the train platformed, unless I'm not seeing it correctly? Why wouldn't the doors have opened the second they platformed?

Not looks like... They did pry them open.  The train was packed during the height of rush hour and people were on the verge of passing out.  If you look closely, you can see that the windows of the train are fogged up, showing just how steamy it was in there.  No air circulation, with all of those people packed in there giving off their own body heat... Some people were saying had it been another few minutes someone could've died because apparently people were starting to suffer from the heat conditions within the cars.  

 

Yet again, the MTA manages to take a terrible incident and somehow makes it much worse than it should've been. Obviously, nothing could be done, other than the usual maintenance procedures, to prevent a catastrophic failure of the train. However, the response following the incident leaves much to be desired. From the report, it seems like the train crew was pretty much MIA. I understand neither the conductor or the operator can do much to move a dead train, but it doesn't take much to get on the PA (or walk through the cars if necessary) and inform riders of the situation and what's going on. Hiding in the cab does not help matters in the slightest; in fact, it will likely make things worse, which actually happened in this case. People are very panicky when faced with these kind of circumstances.

 

On that subject, where was the response from RCC? Why does it take nearly an hour to rescue stranded passengers from a dead train? When it became obvious the train would not move under its own power, why was the train not evacuated in a more timely fashion? I understand that it was the height of the PM rush, but with a stalled train, services were already rerouted around the incident, so why wasn't the third rail shut off and the passengers walked back to the nearest station?

 

These kinds of incidents not only highlight the age and condition of the subway, but also illustrates what kind of response the MTA presents versus what the response should be. There is absolutely no reason why passengers should have to wait around on a dead train with no air conditioning like cattle. Something has to change, if nothing else, the way these events are handled, because quite frankly, this is unacceptable.

What I've been noticing of late is the literally backing into a corner, and closing the door and saying, okay everyone is gunning for us so let's just shut down.  When you file complaints about issues now, they literally generate automated responses saying they can't respond due to high volume and that your complain will be expedited to the appropriate party.  

[biGC323232]

This is crazy.... ...Subway delays and power failures has been happening way to often......Whats going on all of a sudden with the  overall

[bulk88]

I was on that R46. The R46 F crawled from 47-50th to 34th, typical rush hour congestion on 6th ave. It froze a bit in station with doors open at 14, and West 4, I thought nothing of it, must be an M right ahead. Then my train headed past West 4 towards Broadway Lafayette and stopped in the tunnel. This was 6:20PM exactly.

 

AC was off, my car mustve gapped. Then a minute later load shedding and half the lights went out. The PA, yellow digital sign on side, the AC fan, but not the AC, and half the lights still are on, Then comes the "train traffic ahead of us we will be moving shortly" announcements every 5 minutes or so. At 6:25 I heard a brake dump noise. So either the train is broken, or something ahead so bad happened the TO keyed out and went to sleep with his bag as a pillow in the cab.

At 6:30 people started to panic. All windows were opened, but they are useless. The AC fan was still blowing a lil bit of hot humid air around. Around 6:35 I told the other paxs there is no power, we are just on battery, a train probably ran someone over. About 6:35 an orange vest worker walked by catwalk, people banged on windows for him for answers but he kept walking. I started to think there will be a trackbed evac now. The train is never going to move.

 

Around 6:40 the lights started to flicker. More load shedding. Turned 100% off, pitch darkness except for the yellow digital sign, 2 secs later came back on to 50%, then turned off again, came back, then died permanently. Yep, we ran out of battery power. The yellow sign was still powered. NYCT mustve forgot to connect it to the load shedder during the GOH lol. Im also shocked the R46 HVAC fan is connected to the lighting. I've never heard of motor loads going trainline battery until now. Now the pax panic and talking and remarks really picked up in the darkness.

Upto the point of darkness, the PA kept saying "train traffic ahead" a clear lie. Once the lights went to pitch dark, it became "a severe maintenance malfunction, we will be moving shortly".

Since its been 17-20 mins since the train stopped, with no power, so they gonna evac us anyway, I considered breaking the end door window out, flip door switch, and letting myself out into the tunnel, since those end door window gaskets look easily popable/rippable and its the same stuff, just missing a rip handle as FRA cars. Side windows are more reenforced and I think only a fire axe will go through them. But I'd have to get up go through a sea of standing paxs, and then convince everyone else to walk to freedom with me and that I'm not crazy for breaking out of prison.

 

Around 6:45 PM, I heard the brakes release and the train rolled backwards and immediately brakes were applied again. I realized we are going uphill because 6 Ave Platform at West 4 is very deep but Broadway Lafayette is deep but not as deep, so its uphill. There were 3 more cycles of release brakes, roll back, apply brakes.

Finally a release brake, happened, and the MU relays clicked and the train crawled forward at a snails pace. It moved 10 feet, then a bang/slam/relay clicked off and train tries to roll backwards and brakes applied again. Lights and AC came on, train had power again at its new position. Another cycle, release brakes, apply power (relay clicks), this time, even with power, train rolled backwards and braked. After than the lights and AC were turned off AGAIN, this time by staff. Probably to conserve power for the few motors that did work on the train. This action made the last 15 minutes worse, the train could've had its AC working by now, but it was explicitly turned off.

Some more brake release, apply power, crawl, "bang" grinds to a halt, rolls back, brakes apply cycles. I noticed only ONCE really early on, notch 2 (series) was used to accelerate. Otherwise it was only notch 1(switch). Perhaps if he gunned it in 2 or 3 the working half of the train wouldve pushed the dead half into the next station, but no, in notch 1 they are playing games around with the train going backwards because of a hill and insufficient power. Probably some stupid MTA policy that a broken train cant be operated in anything but lowest notch.

Eventually we roll into the station and stop. The windows were dripping wet from humidity. AC and lights are still off. Immediately on the PA it is announced to NOT to try to open the side doors and it isn't safe to leave yet and the train will be moved "again" to make room for the train behind us (an R160 I later found out) to pull up to evac its load of passengers through its 1st side door. 4 minutes later, they changed their mind, they aren't moving the train, and the PA announced they are opening the doors.

FREEDOM.

The muggy piss filled air of the station never felt so good before.

Afterwards I stuck around on the platform. 6 orange vest workers were huddling in both center operating cabs. The train after 5 mins drove away, no paxs, with the power controller in the CO cab being turned to notch 1. So yep, just like I thought, one half of the train was dead, and was being pushed or pulled by the other half that had some power, but couldn't climb the hill. My half was working half. Front was dead.

My thoughts, WTF happened? MU control wires shorted? some motor shorted out, but didn't trip the 3rd rail shoe fuse, or was a fake fuse installed and that caused the 3rd rail CB to blow at the substation. Why couldn't the TO and CO, ALONE, coordinate and drive the train to next stop from the middle cab? Why did half a dozen other personnel need to drive to, then WALK to the stuck train? Might as well just start an evac up the emergency stairs if you need staff to walk to a disabled powerless train in the tunnel. And all the PA announcements were lies like always.

If it was an R160 people would've been on the tracks walking away by then. The R46s are a death trap. There is ZERO official way to escape a fire in a R46. None. All other metros on planet earth have handles to emergency open windows and doors, but NYC DOES NOT. Atleast with R160s/R32s 1 or 2 end doors are open, but R46s and R68s are murder/fire/get raped boxes. Some of you will argue R46/R68s are safer because bums and muggers can't walk in.

[biGC323232]

 

I was on that R46. The R46 F crawled from 47-50th to 34th, typical rush hour congestion on 6th ave. It froze a bit in station with doors open at 14, and West 4, I thought nothing of it, must be an M right ahead. Then my train headed past West 4 towards Broadway Lafayette and stopped in the tunnel. This was 6:20PM exactly.

 

AC was off, my car mustve gapped. Then a minute later load shedding and half the lights went out. The PA, yellow digital sign on side, the AC fan, but not the AC, and half the lights still are on, Then comes the "train traffic ahead of us we will be moving shortly" announcements every 5 minutes or so. At 6:25 I heard a brake dump noise. So either the train is broken, or something ahead so bad happened the TO keyed out and went to sleep with his bag as a pillow in the cab.

At 6:30 people started to panic. All windows were opened, but they are useless. The AC fan was still blowing a lil bit of hot humid air around. Around 6:35 I told the other paxs there is no power, we are just on battery, a train probably ran someone over. About 6:35 an orange vest worker walked by catwalk, people banged on windows for him for answers but he kept walking. I started to think there will be a trackbed evac now. The train is never going to move.

 

Around 6:40 the lights started to flicker. More load shedding. Turned 100% off, pitch darkness except for the yellow digital sign, 2 secs later came back on to 50%, then turned off again, came back, then died permanently. Yep, we ran out of battery power. The yellow sign was still powered. NYCT mustve forgot to connect it to the load shedder during the GOH lol. Im also shocked the R46 HVAC fan is connected to the lighting. I've never heard of motor loads going trainline battery until now. Now the pax panic and talking and remarks really picked up in the darkness.

Upto the point of darkness, the PA kept saying "train traffic ahead" a clear lie. Once the lights went to pitch dark, it became "a severe maintenance malfunction, we will be moving shortly".

Since its been 17-20 mins since the train stopped, with no power, so they gonna evac us anyway, I considered breaking the end door window out, flip door switch, and letting myself out into the tunnel, since those end door window gaskets look easily popable/rippable and its the same stuff, just missing a rip handle as FRA cars. Side windows are more reenforced and I think only a fire axe will go through them. But I'd have to get up go through a sea of standing paxs, and then convince everyone else to walk to freedom with me and that I'm not crazy for breaking out of prison.

 

Around 6:45 PM, I heard the brakes release and the train rolled backwards and immediately brakes were applied again. I realized we are going uphill because 6 Ave Platform at West 4 is very deep but Broadway Lafayette is deep but not as deep, so its uphill. There were 3 more cycles of release brakes, roll back, apply brakes.

Finally a release brake, happened, and the MU relays clicked and the train crawled forward at a snails pace. It moved 10 feet, then a bang/slam/relay clicked off and train tries to roll backwards and brakes applied again. Lights and AC came on, train had power again at its new position. Another cycle, release brakes, apply power (relay clicks), this time, even with power, train rolled backwards and braked. After than the lights and AC were turned off AGAIN, this time by staff. Probably to conserve power for the few motors that did work on the train. This action made the last 15 minutes worse, the train could've had its AC working by now, but it was explicitly turned off.

Some more brake release, apply power, crawl, "bang" grinds to a halt, rolls back, brakes apply cycles. I noticed only ONCE really early on, notch 2 (series) was used to accelerate. Otherwise it was only notch 1(switch). Perhaps if he gunned it in 2 or 3 the working half of the train wouldve pushed the dead half into the next station, but no, in notch 1 they are playing games around with the train going backwards because of a hill and insufficient power. Probably some stupid MTA policy that a broken train cant be operated in anything but lowest notch.

Eventually we roll into the station and stop. The windows were dripping wet from humidity. AC and lights are still off. Immediately on the PA it is announced to NOT to try to open the side doors and it isn't safe to leave yet and the train will be moved "again" to make room for the train behind us (an R160 I later found out) to pull up to evac its load of passengers through its 1st side door. 4 minutes later, they changed their mind, they aren't moving the train, and the PA announced they are opening the doors.

FREEDOM.

The muggy piss filled air of the station never felt so good before.

Afterwards I stuck around on the platform. 6 orange vest workers were huddling in both center operating cabs. The train after 5 mins drove away, no paxs, with the power controller in the CO cab being turned to notch 1. So yep, just like I thought, one half of the train was dead, and was being pushed or pulled by the other half that had some power, but couldn't climb the hill. My half was working half. Front was dead.

My thoughts, WTF happened? MU control wires shorted? some motor shorted out, but didn't trip the 3rd rail shoe fuse, or was a fake fuse installed and that caused the 3rd rail CB to blow at the substation. Why couldn't the TO and CO, ALONE, coordinate and drive the train to next stop from the middle cab? Why did half a dozen other personnel need to drive to, then WALK to the stuck train? Might as well just start an evac up the emergency stairs if you need staff to walk to a disabled powerless train in the tunnel. And all the PA announcements were lies like always.

If it was an R160 people would've been on the tracks walking away by then. The R46s are a death trap. There is ZERO official way to escape a fire in a R46. None. All other metros on planet earth have handles to emergency open windows and doors, but NYC DOES NOT. Atleast with R160s/R32s 1 or 2 end doors are open, but R46s and R68s are murder/fire/get raped boxes. Some of you will argue R46/R68s are safer because bums and muggers can't walk in.

 

Wow...What an event that was....I nevered did like the r68/46's just for that reason of being lock in like that... 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Wow...What an event that was....I nevered did like the r68/46's just for that reason of being lock in like that... 

Agreed... What a story, and what a terrible job of communicating by the .  They've now used the "train traffic ahead" BS excuse as the reason every train is delayed.  The riding public isn't as stupid as they seem to think.

[HenryB]

The end doors on the R46's are locked so that when the train rounds tight curves, somebody crossing cars doesn't slip and end up being grinded.

 

 

They should find way to unlock the end doors during emergencies.

In case of fire emergency, the result would be horrible if the end doors keep locked.....

[biGC323232]

Agreed... What a story, and what a terrible job of communicating by the .  They've now used the "train traffic ahead" BS excuse as the reason every train is delayed.  The riding public isn't as stupid as they seem to think.

Well thank god nobody really went crazy in that type of situation..Look at the way that unfolded with ppl forcing doors to open  ...it could have been worst....Well the  by now should know 80% of their riders know whats up...

[Wallyhorse]

Yet again, the MTA manages to take a terrible incident and somehow makes it much worse than it should've been. Obviously, nothing could be done, other than the usual maintenance procedures, to prevent a catastrophic failure of the train. However, the response following the incident leaves much to be desired. From the report, it seems like the train crew was pretty much MIA. I understand neither the conductor or the operator can do much to move a dead train, but it doesn't take much to get on the PA (or walk through the cars if necessary) and inform riders of the situation and what's going on. Hiding in the cab does not help matters in the slightest; in fact, it will likely make things worse, which actually happened in this case. People are very panicky when faced with these kind of circumstances.

 

On that subject, where was the response from RCC? Why does it take nearly an hour to rescue stranded passengers from a dead train? When it became obvious the train would not move under its own power, why was the train not evacuated in a more timely fashion? I understand that it was the height of the PM rush, but with a stalled train, services were already rerouted around the incident, so why wasn't the third rail shut off and the passengers walked back to the nearest station?

 

These kinds of incidents not only highlight the age and condition of the subway, but also illustrates what kind of response the MTA presents versus what the response should be. There is absolutely no reason why passengers should have to wait around on a dead train with no air conditioning like cattle. Something has to change, if nothing else, the way these events are handled, because quite frankly, this is unacceptable.

Absolutely.  This was inexcusable.  I would have required the C/R and M/M to immediately begin walking the train and explaining what was going on, especially after a few minutes of this.  Once this got beyond 20 minutes, they would have been required to unlock the doors between cars so people could at least get some air in them.

 

Not looks like... They did pry them open.  The train was packed during the height of rush hour and people were on the verge of passing out.  If you look closely, you can see that the windows of the train are fogged up, showing just how steamy it was in there.  No air circulation, with all of those people packed in there giving off their own body heat... Some people were saying had it been another few minutes someone could've died because apparently people were starting to suffer from the heat conditions within the cars.  

 

What I've been noticing of late is the literally backing into a corner, and closing the door and saying, okay everyone is gunning for us so let's just shut down.  When you file complaints about issues now, they literally generate automated responses saying they can't respond due to high volume and that your complain will be expedited to the appropriate party.  

It seems like some people are more concerned with protecting their fifedoms over doing their jobs.  I would be ordering a full investigation, not even ruling out looking to have the DA file criminal charges to if nothing else send a message.

 

 

I was on that R46. The R46 F crawled from 47-50th to 34th, typical rush hour congestion on 6th ave. It froze a bit in station with doors open at 14, and West 4, I thought nothing of it, must be an M right ahead. Then my train headed past West 4 towards Broadway Lafayette and stopped in the tunnel. This was 6:20PM exactly.

 

AC was off, my car mustve gapped. Then a minute later load shedding and half the lights went out. The PA, yellow digital sign on side, the AC fan, but not the AC, and half the lights still are on, Then comes the "train traffic ahead of us we will be moving shortly" announcements every 5 minutes or so. At 6:25 I heard a brake dump noise. So either the train is broken, or something ahead so bad happened the TO keyed out and went to sleep with his bag as a pillow in the cab.

At 6:30 people started to panic. All windows were opened, but they are useless. The AC fan was still blowing a lil bit of hot humid air around. Around 6:35 I told the other paxs there is no power, we are just on battery, a train probably ran someone over. About 6:35 an orange vest worker walked by catwalk, people banged on windows for him for answers but he kept walking. I started to think there will be a trackbed evac now. The train is never going to move.

 

Around 6:40 the lights started to flicker. More load shedding. Turned 100% off, pitch darkness except for the yellow digital sign, 2 secs later came back on to 50%, then turned off again, came back, then died permanently. Yep, we ran out of battery power. The yellow sign was still powered. NYCT mustve forgot to connect it to the load shedder during the GOH lol. Im also shocked the R46 HVAC fan is connected to the lighting. I've never heard of motor loads going trainline battery until now. Now the pax panic and talking and remarks really picked up in the darkness.

Upto the point of darkness, the PA kept saying "train traffic ahead" a clear lie. Once the lights went to pitch dark, it became "a severe maintenance malfunction, we will be moving shortly".

Since its been 17-20 mins since the train stopped, with no power, so they gonna evac us anyway, I considered breaking the end door window out, flip door switch, and letting myself out into the tunnel, since those end door window gaskets look easily popable/rippable and its the same stuff, just missing a rip handle as FRA cars. Side windows are more reenforced and I think only a fire axe will go through them. But I'd have to get up go through a sea of standing paxs, and then convince everyone else to walk to freedom with me and that I'm not crazy for breaking out of prison.

 

Around 6:45 PM, I heard the brakes release and the train rolled backwards and immediately brakes were applied again. I realized we are going uphill because 6 Ave Platform at West 4 is very deep but Broadway Lafayette is deep but not as deep, so its uphill. There were 3 more cycles of release brakes, roll back, apply brakes.

Finally a release brake, happened, and the MU relays clicked and the train crawled forward at a snails pace. It moved 10 feet, then a bang/slam/relay clicked off and train tries to roll backwards and brakes applied again. Lights and AC came on, train had power again at its new position. Another cycle, release brakes, apply power (relay clicks), this time, even with power, train rolled backwards and braked. After than the lights and AC were turned off AGAIN, this time by staff. Probably to conserve power for the few motors that did work on the train. This action made the last 15 minutes worse, the train could've had its AC working by now, but it was explicitly turned off.

Some more brake release, apply power, crawl, "bang" grinds to a halt, rolls back, brakes apply cycles. I noticed only ONCE really early on, notch 2 (series) was used to accelerate. Otherwise it was only notch 1(switch). Perhaps if he gunned it in 2 or 3 the working half of the train wouldve pushed the dead half into the next station, but no, in notch 1 they are playing games around with the train going backwards because of a hill and insufficient power. Probably some stupid MTA policy that a broken train cant be operated in anything but lowest notch.

Eventually we roll into the station and stop. The windows were dripping wet from humidity. AC and lights are still off. Immediately on the PA it is announced to NOT to try to open the side doors and it isn't safe to leave yet and the train will be moved "again" to make room for the train behind us (an R160 I later found out) to pull up to evac its load of passengers through its 1st side door. 4 minutes later, they changed their mind, they aren't moving the train, and the PA announced they are opening the doors.

FREEDOM.

The muggy piss filled air of the station never felt so good before.

Afterwards I stuck around on the platform. 6 orange vest workers were huddling in both center operating cabs. The train after 5 mins drove away, no paxs, with the power controller in the CO cab being turned to notch 1. So yep, just like I thought, one half of the train was dead, and was being pushed or pulled by the other half that had some power, but couldn't climb the hill. My half was working half. Front was dead.

My thoughts, WTF happened? MU control wires shorted? some motor shorted out, but didn't trip the 3rd rail shoe fuse, or was a fake fuse installed and that caused the 3rd rail CB to blow at the substation. Why couldn't the TO and CO, ALONE, coordinate and drive the train to next stop from the middle cab? Why did half a dozen other personnel need to drive to, then WALK to the stuck train? Might as well just start an evac up the emergency stairs if you need staff to walk to a disabled powerless train in the tunnel. And all the PA announcements were lies like always.

If it was an R160 people would've been on the tracks walking away by then. The R46s are a death trap. There is ZERO official way to escape a fire in a R46. None. All other metros on planet earth have handles to emergency open windows and doors, but NYC DOES NOT. Atleast with R160s/R32s 1 or 2 end doors are open, but R46s and R68s are murder/fire/get raped boxes. Some of you will argue R46/R68s are safer because bums and muggers can't walk in.

 

That was horrific for sure.  Worst situation I ever had was in 1983 when I was stuck on a that had mechanical failure for about 20 minutes (in I think an R17 that had plenty of venthilation).  

 

As said, a full investigation should be done and as also said I would not be ruling out demanding criminal charges be filed against those who choose to protect their fifedoms, There also would likely be some hefty suspensions unless it can be proven that everything was done perfectly.  

[Around the Horn]

Not looks like... They did pry them open.  The train was packed during the height of rush hour and people were on the verge of passing out.  If you look closely, you can see that the windows of the train are fogged up, showing just how steamy it was in there.  No air circulation, with all of those people packed in there giving off their own body heat... Some people were saying had it been another few minutes someone could've died because apparently people were starting to suffer from the heat conditions within the cars.  

 

 

Then open the transom windows for ventilation, instead of futilely prying open a door... I mean does no one know that the windows open so you can at least get ventilation in the cars...

 

 

And boy those R46s need to go ASAP, complete trash...

 

I was on that R46. The R46 F crawled from 47-50th to 34th, typical rush hour congestion on 6th ave. It froze a bit in station with doors open at 14, and West 4, I thought nothing of it, must be an M right ahead. Then my train headed past West 4 towards Broadway Lafayette and stopped in the tunnel. This was 6:20PM exactly.

 

AC was off, my car mustve gapped. Then a minute later load shedding and half the lights went out. The PA, yellow digital sign on side, the AC fan, but not the AC, and half the lights still are on, Then comes the "train traffic ahead of us we will be moving shortly" announcements every 5 minutes or so. At 6:25 I heard a brake dump noise. So either the train is broken, or something ahead so bad happened the TO keyed out and went to sleep with his bag as a pillow in the cab.

At 6:30 people started to panic. All windows were opened, but they are useless. The AC fan was still blowing a lil bit of hot humid air around. Around 6:35 I told the other paxs there is no power, we are just on battery, a train probably ran someone over. About 6:35 an orange vest worker walked by catwalk, people banged on windows for him for answers but he kept walking. I started to think there will be a trackbed evac now. The train is never going to move.

 

Around 6:40 the lights started to flicker. More load shedding. Turned 100% off, pitch darkness except for the yellow digital sign, 2 secs later came back on to 50%, then turned off again, came back, then died permanently. Yep, we ran out of battery power. The yellow sign was still powered. NYCT mustve forgot to connect it to the load shedder during the GOH lol. Im also shocked the R46 HVAC fan is connected to the lighting. I've never heard of motor loads going trainline battery until now. Now the pax panic and talking and remarks really picked up in the darkness.

Upto the point of darkness, the PA kept saying "train traffic ahead" a clear lie. Once the lights went to pitch dark, it became "a severe maintenance malfunction, we will be moving shortly".

Since its been 17-20 mins since the train stopped, with no power, so they gonna evac us anyway, I considered breaking the end door window out, flip door switch, and letting myself out into the tunnel, since those end door window gaskets look easily popable/rippable and its the same stuff, just missing a rip handle as FRA cars. Side windows are more reenforced and I think only a fire axe will go through them. But I'd have to get up go through a sea of standing paxs, and then convince everyone else to walk to freedom with me and that I'm not crazy for breaking out of prison.

 

Around 6:45 PM, I heard the brakes release and the train rolled backwards and immediately brakes were applied again. I realized we are going uphill because 6 Ave Platform at West 4 is very deep but Broadway Lafayette is deep but not as deep, so its uphill. There were 3 more cycles of release brakes, roll back, apply brakes.

Finally a release brake, happened, and the MU relays clicked and the train crawled forward at a snails pace. It moved 10 feet, then a bang/slam/relay clicked off and train tries to roll backwards and brakes applied again. Lights and AC came on, train had power again at its new position. Another cycle, release brakes, apply power (relay clicks), this time, even with power, train rolled backwards and braked. After than the lights and AC were turned off AGAIN, this time by staff. Probably to conserve power for the few motors that did work on the train. This action made the last 15 minutes worse, the train could've had its AC working by now, but it was explicitly turned off.

Some more brake release, apply power, crawl, "bang" grinds to a halt, rolls back, brakes apply cycles. I noticed only ONCE really early on, notch 2 (series) was used to accelerate. Otherwise it was only notch 1(switch). Perhaps if he gunned it in 2 or 3 the working half of the train wouldve pushed the dead half into the next station, but no, in notch 1 they are playing games around with the train going backwards because of a hill and insufficient power. Probably some stupid MTA policy that a broken train cant be operated in anything but lowest notch.

Eventually we roll into the station and stop. The windows were dripping wet from humidity. AC and lights are still off. Immediately on the PA it is announced to NOT to try to open the side doors and it isn't safe to leave yet and the train will be moved "again" to make room for the train behind us (an R160 I later found out) to pull up to evac its load of passengers through its 1st side door. 4 minutes later, they changed their mind, they aren't moving the train, and the PA announced they are opening the doors.

FREEDOM.

The muggy piss filled air of the station never felt so good before.

Afterwards I stuck around on the platform. 6 orange vest workers were huddling in both center operating cabs. The train after 5 mins drove away, no paxs, with the power controller in the CO cab being turned to notch 1. So yep, just like I thought, one half of the train was dead, and was being pushed or pulled by the other half that had some power, but couldn't climb the hill. My half was working half. Front was dead.

My thoughts, WTF happened? MU control wires shorted? some motor shorted out, but didn't trip the 3rd rail shoe fuse, or was a fake fuse installed and that caused the 3rd rail CB to blow at the substation. Why couldn't the TO and CO, ALONE, coordinate and drive the train to next stop from the middle cab? Why did half a dozen other personnel need to drive to, then WALK to the stuck train? Might as well just start an evac up the emergency stairs if you need staff to walk to a disabled powerless train in the tunnel. And all the PA announcements were lies like always.

If it was an R160 people would've been on the tracks walking away by then. The R46s are a death trap. There is ZERO official way to escape a fire in a R46. None. All other metros on planet earth have handles to emergency open windows and doors, but NYC DOES NOT. Atleast with R160s/R32s 1 or 2 end doors are open, but R46s and R68s are murder/fire/get raped boxes. Some of you will argue R46/R68s are safer because bums and muggers can't walk in.

 

 

Yup, this proves it. The R46s are shit...