The New York City subway derails after colliding with another train, injuring more than 20 people
NEW YORK — A New York City subway train derailed Thursday after colliding with another low-speed train, leaving more than two dozen people with minor injuries and causing major service disruptions in Manhattan during the afternoon rush hour, authorities said.
At about 3 p.m. on the Upper West Side, a 1 train carrying about 300 passengers and an out-of-service Metropolitan Transportation Authority train with four workers aboard collided near the 96th Street station, police and transit officials on the scene said. . A 'derailment' occurs when at least one wheel of a train leaves the track.
The collision knocked out service on the 1, 2 and 3 lines in most of Manhattan, the MTA said. Crews were working to clear the tracks Thursday evening and hoped to resume service Friday morning, but that was not guaranteed, officials said.
Photos posted on social media by the city's emergency officials showed the passenger train partially gone off the track in an area with a track switching mechanism. Officials said there were no immediate signs of equipment failure and that investigators were looking to see if there was human error.
The out-of-service train was stuck because someone pulled some emergency stop cords, said Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit for the MTA.
“Fortunately there were no serious injuries,” Davey said at a news conference. “It is obviously not the intention for two trains to collide. We are going to get to the bottom of that.”
New York's aging subway system has suffered power outages, signal problems and other disruptions in recent years.
Firefighters helped remove passengers from the in-service train, as well as several hundred more people from another train that was not involved but had to stop in the tunnel due to the collision.
The NYPD said seven passengers and one crew member were taken to hospitals. At least 20 emergency vehicles were on scene, including police, fire and MTA responders.