Power failure impacts several subway lines, prompting evacuations from stalled trains in Brooklyn
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Four people were injured, and thousands of riders had to be evacuated from stalled trains after a Con Edison power failure in Downtown Brooklyn disrupted service on several lines Wednesday night, according to officials.
The MTA says power was lost around 5:30 p.m. between Jay Street/MetroTech station and Hoyt-Schermerhorn due to an underground fire, resulting in disruption to the A/C/F/G lines, which either lost power or had to be rerouted.
They say about 3,500 riders had to be evacuated from two F trains that were stalled due to power loss. The evacuations were completed several hours later.
Three additional trains were briefly stuck without power, and were able move backward to stations with power.
FDNY officials say four people suffered minor injuries. Three people refused medical attention and one person was taken to the hospital.
The incident was listed under control around 8:15 p.m., however service on A, C and F lines was still being impacted on Wednesday night.
A and C trains were running with delays in both directions, with A trains running on the local track between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts and Euclid Ave.
There is no F train service between Broadway-Lafayette St and Jay St-Metro Tech, while most F trains are rerouted via the D train between W 4 St. and Coney Island-Stillwell Ave.
Meanwhile, G train service has resumed between Church Avenue and Bedford-Nostrand Avenues in both directions.
At Jay Street Wednesday night, MTA workers were directing riders to buses, while some trains were stopped in the station waiting for the train traffic to get moving again.
Some riders were either waiting it out, or trying to figure out what to do next.
"I'm coming from my second job so I'm just trying to get home so I can get ready for work tomorrow," said commuter Rael Clark.
"I'm going to have to walk probably about 30 minutes, it's a little unfortunate this late on a Wednesday. It is raining, hopefully it's coming to a stop, but I guess the walk could be further," said commuter Andrew Garguilo.
The MTA says it's working with Con Edison to figure out how this all happened. There was a fire affecting a transformer, but the question is how this had such a major impact on service and disrupted the commute for thousands of people.
"NYC Transit will work with Con Ed to understand how a limited outage in a redundant system could create a significant disruption to service," the MTA said in a statement.
The MTA said they anticipate service that was still disrupted Wednesday night, to be back up and running in time for the Thursday morning commute.
You can find the latest service status updates on the MTA's website.
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