After half of the subway system in New York City shut down due to a surge in electricity on Monday, they became increasingly impatient with waiting for rescue services, and passengers on two stranded trains ventured onto the tracks themselves.
As passengers tried to let themselves go, the restoration of services was further delayed. Governor Kathy Hochul said that the train was trapped for several hours, resulting in hundreds of people being stranded.
“We never want drivers to do that,” she said. “It’s dangerous and causes delays in power restoration.”
The governor suggested that passengers should always wait for the fire or police department to send them to a safe place.
Hochul said that from around 9pm on Sunday to 1:30am on Monday, more than 80 trains and L trains on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s numbered lines experienced unprecedented service failures.
“I have instructed the MTA to do everything possible to mitigate the impact of the service interruption tonight. MTA personnel are assisting customers and New York Police Department Is in a system that supports these efforts,” Hochul said Twitter Sunday night. “We are in negotiations with ConEd to determine the root cause and correct it as soon as possible.”
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Outside of the Lower Manhattan subway system, Hochul promised to conduct a thorough investigation.
“Let me be clear,” Hochl said. “Last night was unacceptable. If you are one of those riders or those who rely on safe transportation, then the system will disappoint you.”
Hochul said that Con Edison reported that just before 8:30 p.m. Sunday night, a feeder was lost “for a short period of time”, “causing a drop in voltage across New York City.”
She said the power outage was “temporary” and activated the backup system. “But when they tried to return to normal, there was an unprecedented surge, causing the subway to lose its signal and communication capabilities,” Hochul said. “The confluence of events that led to this situation has never happened before we knew it,” she said.
Hochul said that Sunday night’s manhole fire, which was initially thought to be related to the subway malfunction, seemed unrelated.
Mayor of new york Bai Sihao Speaking at the virtual press conference, the city agency is cooperating with the state and metropolitan transportation authority to investigate the disruption. “We have to figure out why this happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” de Blasio said.
Hochul is a Democrat and former lieutenant governor. He took over as governor of New York State on August 24 after the resignation of the governor of New York State. Andrew Cuomo, Indicating that the commuter subway service on Monday morning has returned to normal.
There were no reports of casualties due to the disruption of the subway system.
