NYC Subway Chaos: Passengers Trapped Underground for Hours

A major power outage on the NYC subway system on Wednesday night left thousands of commuters stranded for hours. The incident, which occurred between Jay Street-Metrotech and Hoyt-Schermerhorn stations in Brooklyn, disrupted service on the A, C, F, and G lines during the evening rush hour. An underground fire caused the power failure, according to the MTA.

Passengers' Ordeal

Approximately 3,500 passengers were trapped on two stalled F trains. Evacuations took several hours, with some riders reporting they had to exit through underground maintenance tunnels.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Absolutely brutal commute, stuck on the F train for 2 hours before making an emergency exit via the subway track and stairs to the street. Complete sh*tshow but gotta credit <a href="https://twitter.com/FDNY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FDNY</a> and the <a href="https://twitter.com/MTA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MTA</a> staff on our train for getting us through it! <a href="https://twitter.com/JenYoung2/status/1867047903140905258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">https://t.co/neqFclWSTm</a></p>&mdash; Jennifer Young (@JenYoung2) <a href="https://twitter.com/JenYoung2/status/1867047903140905258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2024</a></blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">trapped in an unpowered rush hour F train with no a/c for the last 70 minutes til fdny got us out through a damn maintenance tunnel at smith and atlantic <a href="https://twitter.com/LaplaceInPlace/status/1867001448082575771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">https://t.co/SmLxUmGMXt</a></p>&mdash; lap (@LaplaceInPlace) <a href="https://twitter.com/LaplaceInPlace/status/1867001448082575771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2024</a></blockquote>

Official Response

Gov. Kathy Hochul has demanded a full investigation into the incident, calling the service issues "unacceptable." The MTA and Con Edison are also investigating the cause of the outage.

NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow thanked the first responders and transit workers who helped with the evacuations and stated the MTA would work with Con Edison to prevent similar disruptions in the future. Four people suffered minor injuries.

Aftermath

Service on the A, C, and F lines remained impacted into early Thursday morning. The incident highlights concerns about the state of repair of the aging NYC subway system.