A viral video showing passengers trying to claw their way out of an F train after it was stuck between stations for over an hour has become symbolic of New York’s increasing subway disruptions over the past two months.
S/b F train stuck for over an hour w/o light and air just rolled up-passengers dripping with sweat begging to get off #mta @MTA #effedtrain http://pic.twitter.com/NXJ3pDJtji
— Chelsea Lawrence (@chelseahbelle) June 5, 2017
An F train was stuck between the West 4th Street and Broadway-Lafayette stations for about an hour on Monday evening, passengers say. The subway car shown in the video lacked air conditioning, leaving passengers overheated and frustrated.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority did not immediately return Business Insider’s request for comment.
Anjelica Oswald, a reporter for Business Insider’s sister website, Insider, was a passenger on the train when it got stuck.
“I’ve never sweat so much just from sitting,” Oswald said. “Everyone was dripping and couldn’t breathe.”
Oswald said she got on the crowded F train at the 23rd Street station a little past 6 p.m.
The subway was moving slowly before it stopped. The conductor said the subway had stalled because of train traffic.
Passengers were told for 30 minutes that the delay was caused by train traffic before an MTA employee said the F train was stuck because of mechanical problems.
“That’s when I started panicking,” Oswald said. “I started getting lightheaded. I got on the floor to sit and breathe.”
The heat got so bad that the windows in the subway cars started to fog, according to passengers.
@MTA spent two hours stuck on the f train. An hour this morning and an hour tonight. So hot we could write on the windows. Awful http://pic.twitter.com/SecfeggkRT
— Samantha Mushnick (@SamanthaMush) June 5, 2017
In some of the cars, the lights even went out.
Broken F train. 45m standing in dark tunnel, no AC. The new R179s can’t arrive soon enough. http://pic.twitter.com/32eI5aekH6
— David (@davidtaylor) June 5, 2017
“Claustrophobia, panic, and heat exhaustion began to set in for many folks,” Michael Sandy Claus Sciaraffo, who said he was a passenger, said in a Facebook post.
Passengers tried to help one another by cracking open windows and giving up seats to pregnant women and elderly people. Still, poor communication led to a general sense of panic among some passengers.
“Once we pulled into the station, a mob of people had filled the platform waiting for our train, which left no room to get us off,” Sciaraffo said in the post. “We had to wait another 10 minutes, sweating, in the dark, before we could get off, while the people on the platform took pictures of us dripping sweat through the windows while we were trying to pry the doors open, as it was getting dangerously hot in the train car. People started to yell things like ‘Please get me out’ and ‘I feel sick.'”
When the train pulled into the station, its windows were fogged, and passengers were desperate to get out.
A transit official then said passengers had to wait 10 minutes for the doors to open because the MTA was attempting to fit two stalled trains on the platform.
The F-train fiasco is the latest in a string of disruptions that have plagued New York commuters in the past few months.
The number of subway delays has more than doubled, from about 28,000 a month in 2012 to 70,000 a month this year, The New York Times reported in February. Mechanical performance has also worsened, leading to situations like Monday’s.
The MTA announced a new version of its five-year, $32.5 billion funding plan that directs $14 billion toward improving the subway system. It primarily tackles short-term solutions, like improving subway-car failures.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is also providing a $1 million “Genius” grant to the person with the best solution for fixing problems directly connected to subway delays, like an aging signal system.
In the meantime, New York commuters have become frustrated with the frequency of disruptions.
Get it together you two and make a plan to fix this system. @NYCMayor @NYGovCuomo
— chris (@gochrisgo) June 6, 2017
This is not a regular occurrence. Lived here 10yrs & number of delays, down signals, stopped trains I’ve been on in last 2 months is crazy
— Caro (@socarolinesays) June 6, 2017
Yeah I left NYC in part because of this two weeks ago. My F train commute went from like 25 minutes to over an hour this last half year.
— Matt Hallock (@mghallock) June 6, 2017
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