Partial subway service restored after derailment on UWS, disruptive passenger blamed for train collision

NEW YORK CITY - The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says that a disruptive passenger vandalized a subway train on the Upper West Side on Thursday, causing the crew to stop the train and leading to the collision and derailment near 96th Street that left 24 people injured.

Friday evening, Governor Kathy Hochul said that some subway service had been restored on the 1 and 3 lines. Service is still suspended between 42nd Street and 96th Street, with buses taking passengers from station to station. There is no service to the 2 train. 

It remains unclear when service will be restored between 42nd Street and 96th Street.

Officials said that rerailing the disabled train would be challenging due to the lack of space within the tunnel.

Nine of the ten cars on the passenger train have been rerailed and moved out of the area. 

The last car that still needs to be rerailed, will require lots of lifting inch by inch within the confined space. 

At about 3 p.m. Thursday, on the Upper West Side, a 1 train carrying about 300 passengers and an out-of-service Metropolitan Transportation Authority train with four workers on board hit each other near the 96th Street station, police and transit officials said at the scene. A "derailment" is when at least one wheel of a train leaves the track.

Photos posted on social media by city emergency management officials showed the passenger train partially off the tracks in an area that had a track-switching mechanism. Officials said there were no immediate signs of equipment failure and investigators were seeing if human error was involved.

"It was just really scary," Evelyn Aguilar, 19, who was on her way home to Brooklyn, told the New York Daily News. "People’s belongings flew across the train. My head hit the window of the door. (Then) I hit my head on the pole."

The out-of-service train had been stuck because someone pulled a number of emergency stop cords and the workers were on board to reset the brake cords, said Richard Davey, president of New York City transit for the MTA.

As a result of the collision, there is no 1 train service between 137th Street and 42nd Street currently, with northbound express service is running from Chambers Street to Times Square-42nd Street.

For northbound service to/from local stops from Chambers Street to 28th Street, riders are advised to take M20 and M55 buses. For service between 137th Street-City College and 215 Street, rider should use the M4, M5, Bx7, and M100 buses. 

For service between Marble Hill-225 Street and Van Cortlandt Park-242 Street, riders should use the Bx3, Bx9, and Bx10 buses. Metro-North is cross-honoring between Marble Hill-225 St and Grand Central-42 St.

There is no 3 train service between 42nd Street and 148th Street. 

Riders should consider A/B/C/D trains, or the M1, M2 and M7 buses. 

Subway officials say they are hoping to have full service restored in time for the Friday morning rush. 

For more information click here. 

With the Associated Press.