Prime Highlights
- A West 4th Street–Washington Square blackout knocked NYC subway signals out of commission, leaving a few lines to stop during rush hour.
- The blackout resulted in mass delays and partial shutdown of service on several MTA subway lines and left thousands of commuters in disarray.
Key Fact
- The blackout occurred as a result of a tripped breaker that disabled the signal system amid record heat.
- Although power was eventually restored, delays continued late into evening rush hour and carried over to principal subway lines.
Key Background
A citywide power outage at the West 4th Street–Washington Square station led to enormous disruptions within New York City’s subway network. The shutdown, which was recorded at approximately 8:30 a.m., took out the B and C lines’ service and led to cascading delays on trains such as A, D, F, M, E, G, Q, and 6. Signal system suffering made trains stop or move at lower speeds, leading to chaos in rush hours.
The passengers complained of waiting for more than 30 minutes stuck in trains, other passengers stuck in tunnels and bridges. Some complained of station congestion and delays. The passengers complained of interrupted trips, with undue inconvenience caused due to very long travel duration despite the operational air conditioning system of the trains.
MTA Transit President Demetrius Crichlow referred to a tripped breaker that took out signals and forced emergency responders to manually reset systems as the cause of the outage. The outage happened during the peak of a heat wave that already strained the city’s old subway system. Crichlow argued the problem was the subway system and not the city’s electricity grid provider.
Though crews managed to restore power at noon, there were delays across the afternoon and evening with a number of lines still running half capacity. B and C trains were canceled until service continued to resume incrementally with humongous delays. Other lines like A, C, and E resumed normal hours later in the day.
The disruption also brought worrying to New York City’s aging subway equipment, particularly its old signal and electric infrastructure. The MTA had promised to invest in replacing it with new power substations and stabilizing signals in a bid to avoid the next large disruption.