In the evening of December 11th, during the peak traffic hours in the downtown Brooklyn area of New York City, a power outage occurred in the subway system, leading to the disruption of multiple subway lines and trapping 3,500 passengers in tunnels for several hours. Governor Hochu has ordered an investigation.
At 5:30 pm on the 11th, power was cut off on the subway lines in downtown Brooklyn, leaving approximately 3,500 passengers stranded in the tunnel between Jay St-MetroTech and Hoyt-Schermerhorn St stations on two F trains. The trains had no power or air conditioning, and some passengers in need of using the restroom were forced to find solutions between the cars. Fire department personnel were dispatched to rescue and assist passengers in leaving the train cars, walking through maintenance tunnels, and climbing up service stairs to street level.
The evacuation efforts continued for several hours, and it wasn’t until 8:20 pm that they were completed. Four people sustained minor injuries, with one person hospitalized. The incident not only caused subway services on the A/C/F/G lines to be suspended but also resulted in delays on the 6/E/B/D lines. As of the morning of the 12th, the subway system was still experiencing delays.
On the 12th, Governor Hochu ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the power outage. In a statement, she described the accident as “unacceptable,” stating that New York should have a world-class subway system, and no one should be trapped underground for two hours or encounter such severe delays on their way home from work. She instructed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Con Edison to conduct a comprehensive investigation to identify the reasons behind the incident and ensure that similar situations do not occur in the future. She also said that investments would continue to be made in system maintenance to address issues that should have been resolved decades ago.
During a press conference on the morning of the 12th, MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber stated that the power outage was caused by a fire and explosion at a 90-year-old substation, highlighting the urgent need to invest in upgrading outdated facilities. Lieber mentioned that the substation’s infrastructure should have been replaced many years ago, emphasizing the criticality of investing in updating aging facilities. MTA plans to submit a capital plan for the next five years to the state legislature in January, seeking at least $33 billion.
Danny Pearlstein, a spokesperson for the Riders Alliance, also issued a statement emphasizing that this incident underscores the urgent need for funding to repair the aging subway system. In addition to implementing congestion pricing, Hochu must prioritize allocating funds for public transportation upgrades in the upcoming budget proposal for the new fiscal year next month.