Manhattan Subway Fire Cripples 2 Lines

NY Times ^ | January 25, 2005 | SEWELL CHAN

[neverdem]

Angel Franco/The New York Times
Passengers crowded trains Monday at the Atlantic Avenue station in Brooklyn.

[Prince Charles]

Two of the city's subway lines - the A and the C - have been crippled and may not return to normal capacity for three to five years after a fire Sunday afternoon in a Lower Manhattan transit control room that was started by a homeless person trying to keep warm, officials said yesterday.

Was the "homeless person" named Mohammed, by any chance?

[zarf]

Ahhh....reminds me of the good old days!

[John Thornton]

"If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition's arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation."--Mark Helprin, Oct. 31, 2000

[Investment Biker]

Reminds me of the book by Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.

[neverdem]

Was the "homeless person" named Mohammed, by any chance?

"He estimated it would take "several millions of dollars and several years" to reassemble and test the intricate network of custom-built switch relays that were destroyed in the blaze, which officials believe began when the homeless person - who has not been found - set fire to wood and refuse in a shopping cart in the tunnel about 50 feet north of the Chambers Street station."

[Palladin]

My first thought, too.

But then I read further, and thought: "Who wants to sell the City another computerized signaling system?

The fixed-block signaling system has been in use since the New York subway's inception in 1904. The transit agency has invested $288 million on its first computerized signaling system, scheduled to make its debut on the L line in Brooklyn and Manhattan in July. Computer-based train operation has been a goal of transit planners for decades, but since 1982 the transit agency has focused its capital spending on basic maintenance.

[neverdem]

FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.

[Cicero]

Oh, terrific. That explains why the A train took such a very long time to get from Penn Station to Broadway-Nassau this afternoon. Plus I noticed bright lights in a control room next to the Chambers Street station and about 20 or 30 hardhats in there working on something.

The train before ours was evidently having problems, so they dumped all the passengers at the Broadway-Nassau station--last stop before Brooklyn--and our already crowded car was overwhelmed with people trying to get on. I was very glad to be getting off there, finally.

I'm really looking forward to half-hour delays every time I take the subway downtown. For five years?

Since Giuliani left office, the homeless people have been moving back into the subway tunnels and stations. Now we see what the results can be. Frankly I expected this to happen earlier, because our new mayor is a cretin. But this is not a good sign.

[Palladin]

Maybe it was some poor NYer who needed a ciggy real bad, and had to go into the bowels of the subway system for a few puffs. I understand it is a capital crime these days in NYC to light up anywhere.

[neverdem]

Frankly I expected this to happen earlier, because our new mayor is a cretin.

You're being much too charitable to Bloomboob.

[Prince Charles]

At a minimum, this article demonstrates the sheer incompetence on the part of transit security officials. Such a critical comm vault should have been monitored and equipped with fire suppression capability.

[Gforce11]

http://us.st8.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/wickedcoolstuff_1826_32300043

[Gforce11]

[conservative in nyc]

I doubt it will take 3-5 years to fix the problem. They totally rebuilt the section of 1/9 tunnel running underneath the World Trade Center in a little over a year.
They'll probably run the A on the F tracks to Brooklyn late nights and weekends to expedite any necessary track work.

In Manhattan itself, there's plenty of redundancy. The 2 and 3 also run from Penn Station to the Fulton St-Broadway-Nassau complex. The E is still running full service on the local tracks to every station but Broadway-Nassau. It's the people who have less choice of lines out in Queens (and to a lesser extent, Upper Manhattan) who will be most affected. It will also make the fairly easy link from Downtown to JFK less reliable.

I doubt this was a terrorist attack. If it was, it's not very effective. It didn't kill anyone. And there are obvious workarounds to anyone who knows the NYC subway system. Other sections of the NYC subway system have been closed for various reasons in the past (the Union Square crash on the Lexington Avenue line comes to mind), and the city has managed. Heck, two of the four Manhattan Bridge tracks were closed for repairs for over a decade, yet trains were rerouted and Brooklyn managed just fine.

[BrooklynGOP]

That's @#$#@#@$@#! I have a job interview on thursday on Broad St!

[Salman]

... started by a homeless person trying to keep warm, officials said yesterday.

This is nonsense. It is very easy to keep warm on the New York subway. All you have to do is get on a train. They are heated.

[neverdem]

This is nonsense. It is very easy to keep warm on the New York subway. All you have to do is get on a train. They are heated.

The psychotics among the homeless are not aware to make that choice.

[NYC GOP Chick]

You can try taking the E to the WTC stop (yes, I know there's no longer any WTC!) and then just walk east on Fulton.

Another option is the 2 and 3 trains.

I seriously doubt it's going to take 5 years to get back to normal. It was 14 months after 9/11 that they got every single station (except the 1/9 stop that was below the WTC) back in pre-9/11 shape.