Radio communication problem preceded NYC subway crash, federal report says
NEW YORK — A worker escorting an out-of-service New York City subway train that collided with another train earlier this month says he lost radio contact with the operator before the crash and that no message was received to stop at a red light, according to a new federal police. report.
The communications failure occurred before the out-of-service train collided at low speed with another train near the 96th Street station on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, derailing both and leaving about 25 people with minor injuries, according to the preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. report on the January 4 incident.
The report, released Thursday, does not identify the cause of the crash but outlines the events leading up to it. The federal investigation is still ongoing.
About an hour before the collision, a passenger on the train had pulled the emergency brake cords of the first five cars. Workers were unable to reset the brakes, so it was taken out of service and the brakes on those cars were disabled so it could be moved to a rail yard for repairs, the report said.
A driver had to drive the train from the sixth car, while another worker in the front car relayed the instructions. But the worker in the front told investigators that he had lost radio communications near the 96th Street stop, and that the operator never received a message to stop at a red signal at the end of the platform, the report said.
The tracks were equipped with “trip-stops,” which should activate a train’s emergency brakes in such a scenario, but the system did not work due to the five cars that were disabled, the report said.
Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said at a news conference Thursday that tests showed both employees’ radios were working, although it is unclear whether they were on or off at the time.
“For example, it could have been a radio problem. I mean there are multiple channels, that’s another question, like were they on the same channel? Davey said. “So I think we should continue to look at these as possibilities.”
Davey added that an employee driving a train from the center with the brakes off while another drives from the front is “not uncommon” and that it happens 10 to 12 times a week without incident. But he said the agency would look to see if changes can be made to ensure another crash doesn’t happen.
“We will also look at procedures and processes. So it’s not just about one individual, two individuals, who may or may not have followed the process and protocol,” he said.