new york — W Line trains will be running again, but with limited service between Astoria and Whitehall Street stations. The MTA appears to have completed repairs after what police said was vandalism that occurred Tuesday morning and affected dozens of rail cars.
Yellow Line train passengers have been dealing with service disruptions since that commute. CBS New York previously learned more about why. The MTA announced that 36 trains had to be taken out of service because windows were broken.
Photos showed the damage. MTA and NYPD officials said a total of 78 windows on the train cars were broken early Tuesday morning. The hardest hit was the W, which was suspended on Tuesday night. D and F train passengers as well as all Yellow Line customers are experiencing delays.
“I’m here today because, frankly, I’m outraged by what’s happened in the last 24 to 36 hours. Over 70 windows have been smashed and about 35 to 36 trains have been affected. There is a person or a group of people who have given it to them,” Richard A. Davey, president of the city’s Department of Transportation, said Wednesday morning. “As I said earlier, it is outrageous for a group or individual to disrupt the commute of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and potentially cost tens of thousands of dollars, or more, to repair their windows.”
Officials said they could not say for sure where the vandalism occurred, but believed it occurred inside an active subway car rather than on campus. The investigation is ongoing, but no arrests have been made.
“I mean, I’m pissed. Can you say I’m pissed? I mean, seriously,” Davey said. “There are crew members sitting in that break room right now, and they can’t run the W train.”
Mr Davey also issued a warning to those responsible.
“I don’t know of any place that has as many cameras as the Las Vegas casinos. We’ll find you. We’ve got your picture. I have no doubt,” he said. I did. “We will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
New York City Police Department Commissioner of Transportation Michael Kempter said, “Breaking the windows of a train and taking it out of service is not only an inconvenience to passengers, it is a crime, and if you are caught, you will be arrested and charged with a felony.” ” he said. .
Repairs will cost more than $500,000, according to the MTA. Some commuters on the subway told CBS New York they noticed delays starting Tuesday morning.
“It took a long time,” Maya Marde said. “I was 45 minutes late for work today, and so were a lot of people.”
“Terrible. Slow service is bad enough but…” said another rider.
Passenger Paris added: “Imagine being on a train and the glass comes up to you and cuts you. It feels a bit out of control.”
So why did repairs take so long? MTA officials say some of the vehicles destroyed were older vehicles with windows no longer manufactured. There they stole windows from disused cars to replace broken windows.