NEW YORK — Emergency responders were on the scene of a subway derailment in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon.
It happened at around 12:30 p.m. on the F train line at the West 8th Street station in Coney Island, the MTA said.
The agency said all 37 people on the train made it out safely.
“It was a boom, jolt, like someone pushing you, shoving you, but we were sitting. Thank God we weren’t standing or it wasn’t crowded,” passenger Elisa Gales said.
Gales was inside the F train, stuck on the elevated track between the West 8th Street and Neptune stations, for nearly an hour.
“We had to walk across a plank to get onto a rescue train and that’s why we ended up over here,” Gales said.
MTA, FDNY officials discuss Brooklyn subway derailment
Down below, on the ground, construction workers and people who work and live in the area watched in disbelief.
“Train was coming. All you hear is a boom and when you looked that train hit that one, jumped. Everyone just screaming,” a witness named Freddy said.
Officials said 34 passengers and three crew members were on the train.
“We had two rescue cars pull up to the train on both sides and evacuate people from the north end,” FDNY Chief Mike Mandela said.
Transit officials said there may have been an issue with the track.
“We have a ready geometry car. We run what looks like a train apparatus. It goes through our system once a year to make sure everything is even. It came through here in November. As far as we know, no issues,” said Richard Davey, president of NYC Transit.
It marked the second derailment in the city in less than a week. Last Thursday, there was a subway derailment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side involving a 1 train that was carrying 300 passengers. About 25 sustained minor injuries.
The NTSB is still investigating.
“From the collision last week and derailment today, don’t seem like they are connected at all,” Davey said.
Still, commuters remain uneasy.
“I thought it was going to be worse. Thank God, lucky,” Freddy said.
The cause of Wednesday’s derailment remains under investigation. Robert Paaswell, a civil engineer with City College, told CBS New York’s Dana Tyler there are multiple possible causes for a derailment on an elevated track.
“Something in the tracks. The tracks might be displaced, or a track might be broken. It could be due to weather, or displaced. It could be a bad wheel on a car, and a wheel might’ve come loose,” Paaswell said. “It might have been something where the operator of the train either stopped suddenly or started suddenly which jarred some cars together.”
As for train service, the MTA said F service is disrupted from Coney Island to Kings Highway in both directions. Shuttle bus service will be provided for passengers.
The hope is to have everything up and running tomorrow in time for the Thursday morning rush.
Click here for the latest service status and changes from the MTA.
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2024-01-11 00:08:00
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