Results tagged “train”

No matter the time of day — nor the number of empty seats in the subway car — transit cops can issue tickets to straphangers who take up more than one seat. And according to two commuters who were hit with $50 summonses on nearly empty trains passing through the 96th Street station after midnight, the city is undergoing a ticketing blitz (again). more ›

An unidentified man was fatally struck by a southbound B train last night around 7:30 at the Central Park West and 110th St. station. Witnesses told police the man, an Hispanic male from Washington Heights in his mid-30s, was engaged in an agitated cell phone conversation when he dropped his portable music device onto the tracks. One bystander says, "I saw a guy sitting on the stairs talking on his cellphone, then I saw him leaning over the tracks watching for a train to come, when, all of a sudden, he was nowhere to be found." more ›

A group of costume-clad commuters will turn a subway ride into a subterranean soiree. The tour guides from Levys' Unique New York will host a free, unsanctioned "Vintage Tea Party" on an antique subway train where costumed straphangers can sip tea, dine on dainty cookies, and enjoy "everything else you'd expect from a late-19th century parlor-room drama," according to organizers. more ›

A PATH train entering the Herald Square station apparently hit a wall (or bumper). We are hearing that 10 people were injured—8 passengers and 2 PATH employees. Initially, it was reported that there were no delays but now 1010WINS says, " Commuters should expect PATH service delays." Update 8:57 a.m.: NotifyNYC says, "West 33rd Street between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue is closed to traffic because of emergency vehicle activity." Update 9:56 a.m.: Now MyFoxNY is reporting there were 13 injures, all minor and got amateur video of the response—see it after the jump. more ›

After offering the special four-car train during the ALDS, NYC Transit has brought back the Nostalgia Train (circa 1917 Lo-V cars) for the American League Championship Series between the Yankees and Angels. You board the Nostalgia Train at Grand Central at 7:15 p.m.—NYC Transit says it will arrive "at 161st Street-Yankee Stadium about 30 minutes later." more ›

Insanity! Yesterday, Governor Paterson's office announced that "months of intensive negotiations have resulted in a general agreement and mutual understanding on the basic terms and conditions that will lead to the redevelopment of New York City’s historic Farley Post Office Building into a new intercity passenger train station and center for most of Amtrak’s New York City service." The NY Times says, "The deal, whose specifics have yet to be finalized or released, would clear one of the biggest hurdles facing Moynihan Station, which was first proposed more than 15 years ago and has struggled ever since." Last year, after various plans for revamping the gorgeous Farley building into the station had been presented, Madison Square Garden pulled out of the project to simply renovate its own building, leaving many to think the project was dead. Though NJ Transit has already agreed to use space in Moynihan Station, now Amtrak is apparently committed, with the government agreeing to give a bigger share of retail revenue. Guess Paterson really wants to be the the sheriff of Moynihan Station. more ›

The 4 train conductor and train operator who were caught allowing a 9-year-old boy into the train's operating car were apparently done in by the same culprit that many New Yorkers have fallen to—a little mishap involving some broken glasses. After initial suspensions, the MTA completed their investigation into the incident last month where a passenger heard the 4 train's announcements sounding a little squeakier than usual, only to be flabbergasted by the sight of the youngster emerging from the operating car. And while the MTA's look into the incident did discover that the boy was in fact in the area that is most definitely off-limits, neither of the two employees who allowed it were fired when it was confirmed that he did not actually operate the train. more ›

On the evening of August 5th, Long Island resident Lara Tepper was riding the train from Hicksville to Manhattan to meet friends for dinner. But her plans were seriously derailed after an LIRR conductor accused her of using a counterfeit ticket. Tepper says she purchased the 10-trip ticket for $66 in July, and had already used it four times, but when the conductor came to punch her ticket, "She looked at it, felt it for a couple of minutes, and said it's fake." That's because the ticket was missing the MTA logo hologram "Watch the gap" warning. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Would you let this man drive your train? Sure, why not—as long as he knows how to drive, which this man most certainly does not. Bill Kutsch, a court stenographer in Manhattan and a lifelong resident of Setauket, Long Island, turned himself in to Nassau County police today to face a felony charge of reckless endangerment for allegedly operating a westbound LIRR train on July 2nd. You'll recall that a witness blew the whistle on Kutsch's joyride after he allegedly operated the double-decker diesel train as it traveled 25 miles from Hicksville to Hunters Point Avenue in Queens. more ›

A second witness has come forward to corroborate claims that a subway train operator on the No. 4 line allowed an 8 or 9-year-old boy into the motorwoman's cab and maybe even let him drive the train a little. And the witness, Nessa Hampton, 53, says that not only was the boy in the cab with the female operator, but he was left to hang out there by himself while the unidentified woman exited the train at Union Square. According to her report, the motorwoman was gone for several minutes as she chatted with a colleague operating a No. 6 train across the platform. Hampton tells the Daily News, "He was right next to the controls. Suppose he touched something and the train started moving. There was no way this woman could have ran back to the train and stopped it." But not to worry—the motorwoman has explained to MTA officials it was physically impossible for the boy to operate the train because it requires 20-pounds of pressure. (Or a cinder block to override the dead man's switch!) Still, as Hampton told her daughter at the time, "somebody's going to get in a lot of trouble for this." Both the motorwoman and the conductor—who is believed to be the boy's relative—are currently suspended without pay. more ›

A train operator did indeed allow a boy into the cab at the front of a Lexington Avenue 4 express train on Sunday, NYC Transit has confirmed. The 8 or 9 year old boy was apparently a relative of the conductor, who along with the motorwoman has been suspended without pay, pending further investigation. It's still unclear whether the unidentified motorman actually let the boy drive the train, but the witness who prompted the investigation claims he heard her saying, "It's green, speed up...Yellow, slow down." Speaking to the Daily News, a co-worker described the motorwoman, who's been on the job since 1993, as "cautious and attentive... I don't think the kid was driving the train. I think at most she was just showing him [how to drive]." Oh, that's all! But what if this kid had seen the new Taking of Pelham 123 and decided to pull a Travolta? (Or even a Luis Guzman?) Transit officials are taking this one very seriously, and the motorwoman could very well be fired because letting unauthorized visitors into the cab, regardless of age, is against the rules. And letting them drive the train is kinda frowned upon, too. more ›

The MTA is investigating an allegation that a young boy, approximately 8 or 9 years old, was allowed into the train operator's compartment for a little driving tutorial. On Sunday, Jules Cattie, a 41-year-old lawyer, was in the first car of an uptown Lexington Avenue express train when he witnessed "the craziest thing I've ever seen." First he heard the female train operator talking to someone, saying "It's green, speed up...Yellow, slow down." He assumed she was teaching a new MTA worker, but then he saw a child emerge from the compartment. more ›

Remember how back in April how the MTA's $133 million project to connect the uptown 6 train at Bleecker Street with the B, D, F and V lines at Broadway-Lafayette had local merchants in a panic? They said their customers were being driven away by the massive construction ripping up Lafayette Street, and it really did look like an inconvenient eyesore down there. Well, the latest fly in the ointment is a three-story brick landmark building on Lafayette and Bleecker; dubbed the "Peace Pentagon," it's owned by the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, where various progressive groups have their offices. MTA contractors couldn’t proceed with work because the scaffolding outside building is right where they need to dig. And the scaffolding can't be removed because, according to amNY, it's actually propping up the building. Officials now expect the project to be delayed two years because peace activists, not known for their spectacular wealth, need to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix the building. It's bad news for retailers like Jack Wu at the Adore Floral store; he says, "I have customers who call and ask if we are still open. They are trying to modernize the system, but it's killing me." more ›

Greenpoint resident Chrissie Brodigan says she was riding on the L train between Bedford and First Avenue when her pug, who has health problems, overheated and began vomiting in the tote bag she was carrying him in. As she was leaving the subway station with the dog in her arms, she says a police officer's attempt to issue her a ticket turned ugly, and when she became upset the cop began saying, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman." [We've updated with photos of Brodigan's arrest. July 1 update: A new post with details about another witness's account is here. ] more ›

The remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 was this weekend's big release, but some subway riders feel like it's too much of a leap, even for the big screen. The Daily News spoke to some 6 train riders: One said, "Good luck hijacking this train during rush hour. I don't know how all these gunmen are going to squeeze into the car. They would have to empty some people out first," while another explained, "That token clerk at the [Pelham Park station] booth is mean and angry. He won't even give you change for the machine. That man could take out all four bad guys with his glare. Seriously!" And don't even get the folks on SubChat started—here's one opinion: "I never knew that the Pelham Bay terminated at Coney Island!! It also went past Shea Stadium on the way to CI. I never knew that subway cars can travel at 60+ mph. The most I have seen is about 42 MPH going downhill under Queens Blvd...Instead of halting all traffic under Lex. for a 'police action,' express trains passed and some of them were R32 cars. There were many more and I am sure I will see even more inconsistencies after I watch it for the second and third times." more ›

A Boston trolley operator who rear-ended another trolley Friday night because he was text-messaging his girlfriend has ruined cell-phone chatting for everyone at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which has now instructed workers to leave their cell phones at home. 49 people were injured in the collision, which is just the latest example of train wrecks caused by distracted operators—last September a Union Pacific Freight train engineer in California was found to have sent his last text message about a minute before killing 25 people, including himself, in a horrible accident. Now LIRR officials here in New York say they're considering a ban on employees' cell phones, too. Currently, LIRR engineers, who operate the trains, are permitted to bring their personal cell phones on board, but they must be shut off and stowed in a bag. A simpler alternative to an outright ban would be for the LIRR to just hire John Clifford, the famous LIRR cell phone scold, to crack some skulls. more ›

Yesterday morning around 7:30, Griselda Sosa was buying coffee at a bodega near the 225th Street No. 1 train station in Marble Hill, the northernmost neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, when her 5-year-old son Samuel slipped away. Far, far away. Sosa tells the Daily News she'd been arguing with her son before he disappeared: "He was mad [because] he wanted to take the bus. I said, 'No, we'll take the train.'" Samuel, it seems, decided to embrace his fate alone. more ›

NJ Transit commuters have been dealing with the brunt of delays after some wires "came down near Metropark in Iselin Monday night," the AP reports. First, NJ Transit trains were delayed by an hour in both directions on the popular Northeast Corridor route (some trains were even canceled), but now the delays are about 15-30 minutes because three of four tracks are now open. Amtrak customers were facing delays of about 20 minutes. It's unclear what caused the wires to be damaged, but we're betting some of those trains were getting a little tense with St. Patrick's Day revelers. more ›

The transformation is at last complete: After years of delays, L trains will now operate entirely at the whims of an all-powerful computer system—just in time for everyone to ride it to Union Square for the premiere of Terminator Salvation. Motormen working the Brooklyn-Manhattan line will remain on board as a token gesture to humanity's fading relevance, and as way of placating Luddites worried about some sinister runaway HAL train making a break for New Jersey. The "Communications Based Train Control" [CBTC] will kick in tomorrow, (theoretically) enabling NYC Transit to relieve overcrowding by running trains closer together than the current signal system allows. You may recall that fully activating the robo-train has been pushed back for years due to technical glitches; the system will be used overnight at first before expanding into peak service times. NYC Transit's vice president assures the public the computer-operated trains are ready for prime time, telling the Daily News, "This is a safe system with proven technology." At least until it becomes self-aware. more ›

We knew it was coming, and this morning Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz held a mock funeral for the M train. Joining him were Daniel Squadron (New York State Senator), Michael Burke (Downtown Brooklyn Partnership), a bagpiper, and Paul Nelson (Assemblywoman Joan Millman's Chief of Staff). more ›

As strange as it is sad, Four Four encountered the above temporary autonomous zone on an uptown R train last week. more ›

When the mock funeral for the Z train took place last week, some wondered why the endangered W wasn't getting any straphanger love. The Observer has a sprawling piece on the line, which is currently on the chopping block, saying "the W’s exit would somewhat coincide with that of the outgoing U.S. president, with whom it appropriately shared an initial, an era (2001-2008) and dismal approval ratings." While they ponder if New Yorkers are better without the "W-orst" train, it could lead to overcrowded N and R trains, which they say are already "overburdened." So is the W worth saving? One man noted: “I think it will be missed when local riders along Broadway and in Astoria realize their train interval just got halved! Otherwise, probably not, it didn’t serve any particularly unique routing (mostly the same as the N + R).” more ›

The NYPD recommended that people visiting NYC for New Year's take public transportation, but early this morning, about some passengers on Metro-North got to welcome a little 2009 commuter frustration. The AP reports, "About 150 passengers have been rescued from two disabled commuter trains coming from New York that lost heat and electricity in a nearly three-hour ordeal" that started at 3:40 a.m. It's believed "several thousand feet of overhead wires that send power to the trains became entangled and torn, cutting off power" to the trains between Bridgeport and Stratford. And because it took some time to lift and secure the wires, the rescue didn't start until 6:25 a.m. more ›

A year ago, we wrote about a little orange and white kitten who was found on the Queensboro Bridge. He was rescued (in a paint can, thanks to construction workers) and eventually adopted into a loving home. Now we hear that he's "very, very cuddly and loves to play"—and he's much bigger now, but still cute and freckly (pictured). If you're thinking about adding a furry friend to your household soon, head to the Empty Cages Collective adoption event in Park Slope tomorrow—there will be kittehs of all sizes. more ›

Long Island Rail Road riders will have to brace themselves for another day of screwed up service. Though MTA repair crews have been working nonstop since Sunday to fix damaged rails and switches after a train derailed just west of Jamaica Station-- forcing numerous cancellations during the morning and evening rush hours and delays (some riders' -- the damage is so extensive that there are also delays and cancelled service for today. more ›

For decades, one of the best ways for moving people and freight to and from New York over land was by rail. As the car, truck, and airplane took over the railroads declined their importance – unlike most of the railroads weren’t cut off by the Hudson River. Today, most of that rail infrastructure is gone, but a surprising amount of it is still existing albeit in a rotting relic state. You may even have seen it preserved in places like Gantry Plaza State Park or Liberty State Park along the shores opposite Manhattan. Or you may have seen it in action with the railcar barges of the New York New Jersey Rail working their way across the harbor or when you take a train from Hoboken Terminal. more ›

Some Park Slope activists have so little faith in the MTA's promise to renovate the dreary Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street station that they're imploring transit officials to scale back their plans and instead make a few specific improvements immediately. The massive refurbishment was supposed to begin this year and turn the "dank and dark" station into a light-filled hub with clean windows and a new copper roof. But the plans were later scaled back and postponed in the shadow of looming budget shortfalls. more ›

A lawsuit against the MTA is about to go to trial surrounding the rape of a woman on a G train platform in Queens three years ago. And the victim, now 25, told the Daily News this weekend that she forgives her attacker ("I know he was sick in the head"), but not the token booth clerk at the 21st Street station, "I can't forgive those five seconds when I stared into his eyes, screaming for help, imploring him with my tears and all I got back was a cold stare." more ›

We've received conflicting reports regarding this morning's A train service. As early as 10 minutes ago it's been reported that service from Queens into Brooklyn is "SUSPENDED DUE TO A BROKEN RAIL ALONG THE LINE." Yikes! However, the MTA is saying there are only "residual delays" due to an earlier incident. Has anyone experienced a headache this morning on the line? We'll update as more information comes in. more ›

Due an "incident with a forklift at the Westchester Yard," the MTA says riders should be prepared for "extensive delays in service on the 4, 5 and 6 trains at this time." What kind of incident, you ask? Well, according to WNBC, "The forklift hit and damaged the third rail preventing trains from getting out of the yard for the afternoon rush hour." Oh, crap. Update: WABC 7 says everything's back to normal, but as of 5:16 p.m., the MTA's website still says there may be delays. Intrepid straphangers, let us know how it goes! more ›