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West 4 Street Subway Station Fire!

2005_10_fire.jpg

2005_10_subwaywest4.jpgThe news is showing smoke coming from the West 4th Street station on Sixth Avenue, and NY1 says that a storage room may be on fire. Which means there's no B, D, F, or V service between 34th Street and Broadway-Lafayette; NY1 says the F is moving on the A line between Jay Street and 42nd Street, which means the A, C, and E still seems okay (updated: So A, C, and E service is messy...). Gothamist hopes it's only a storage room on fire - not a room where switches and signals are, because the last time that happened, subway service was screwed for a few months (though not years).

Were you underground at the time? How did the MTA handle things?

Photograph from WNBC

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Comments [rss]

  • joey-jo-jo

    Yeah, those clops are mighty clueless...

  • homeopt

    Jeeez....a fire breaks out and everyone thinks it's 9-11 again. Relax. No one cares what train you were on or how clueless the clops were or whether you smell like smoke.

    Hot utterly fucking boring.

  • anyone know if the D train is running now? (2:30pm) or if there's a site with train advisory info that ACTUALLY GETS UPDATED! nymta site blows...

  • MT

    I read every comment. :-P

  • mr

    Blue train? Who says "blue train"?

  • CeeTee

    Headed downtown on the A at 8:40, stuck at 14th St for 10-15 mins. Ultimately had to switch from blue train at 14th, walk to 7th Ave and pay again to continue riding downtown. End result: 40 mins late.

  • Tara

    I was on the R this morning going from Brooklyn to 34th St. I usually transfer to the N at 59th. Before we got to 59th St, the conductor made the announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, due to a fire at the West 4th St. Station, the N, D, Q and B lines are being rerouted. You're better off staying on the R to Manhattan. There will be significant delays. We apologize for the inconvenience."

    A while later, another train operator made the announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what, in transit terms, we call a mess. We apologize."

    My hourlong commute took 30 minutes longer, and I did smell smoke at Herald Square, for some reason, but all in all, it could have been worse.

  • LIRC

    I sensed something was up, when at Greenpoint ave, an F train passed heading towards Smith 9. Got to 23rd ely, and waited on the platform with a crowd of people for almost 20 minutes (and it was easily after 9) before even the low volumed garbled intercom cracked something about the F running on the G to Bergen, and to take the E or R into manhattan. But of course the e wasn't running in either direction at that point. I waited a few more minutes and decided to just transfer to the 7 and walk the 20 or so blocks to work from there. Not really a huge deal, but it is most annoying to have to listen to their ministry of misinformation. I'd almost rather them say nothing at all.

  • dos

    I waited on a downtrain A for close to an hour between 81st st and 59th st. There were scattered announcements about "congestion ahead", "police activity" and "smoke conditions" at W 4th St. With such poor communication between the cars and their central command, I shudder to think what would happen to us during a real emergency.

  • dos

    I waited on a downtrain A for close to an hour between 81st st and 59th st. There were scattered announcements about "congestion ahead", "police activity" and "smoke conditions" at W 4th St. With such poor communication between the cars and their central command, I shudder to think what would happen to us during a real emergency.

  • joe

    i walk to work.... ha ha ha ha ha - SUCKERS!

  • cas

    Got on an F at Carroll Street around 9. They announced at Bergen that the F was then running on the G line and took us to Hoyt Schermerhorn where we could get the A/C. Get to Hoyt and was told there are no A/C trains in service. Took 25 minutes to exit the station with the throngs of people trying to get out and walked to the N/R, which then took forever.

  • mdp

    I tried to take the E train at 50th/8th Ave at about 8:45. They said uptown C & E service was suspended. They said V service was still running on 6th Ave, however after walking over, I was told that they were running a Queens bound F train on the lower level... Though when I got all the way down there I was told that they were no longer running trains on the line.

    Finally I ended up walking to Grand Central and taking the 7 train to my office in LIC, Queens... MTA really should make a habit of keeping people informed, and providing correct information... The walk was great excercise... though getting in an hour and a half late really sucks.

  • Jessie

    Was on the ACE 42nd Street Stop this morning at 9.20am. Tons of ppl waiting and a dead train standing on the station, doors closed. No announcements, no information whatsoever. Went up and walked until I could find a cab to go into work. On the way passed smoke coming up from subway stations.

    The MTA communication is very very poor, to say the least. People had been sitting and waiting there for quite a while, all in vain. Ridiculous. If they want me to say something when I see something, maybe they could let us know when train service is suspended.

  • Jessie

    Was on the ACE 42nd Street Stop this morning at 9.20am. Tons of ppl waiting and a dead train standing on the station, doors closed. No announcements, no information whatsoever. Went up and walked until I could find a cab to go into work. On the way passed smoke coming up from subway stations.

    The MTA communication is very very poor, to say the least. People had been sitting and waiting there for quite a while, all in vain. Ridiculous. If they want me to say something when I see something, maybe they could let us know when train service is suspended.

  • My g/f was waiting for an E (or V) at the Court Square stop in queens for over 20 minutes b/w 9 and 10am. She eventually gave up and hopped on the 7, when no train came. The MTA made an announcement saying that no Manhattan bound trains were running but to take the E, which made no sense. Anyway...

  • I was on an A coming down from 125th; we were nearly at 59th at about 8:45 when we slowed and stopped. The conductor came on repeatedly to say that there was congestion ahead and he was trying to get information from the dispatcher but that no one was answering, and he assured us that there was no cause for concern and he'd tell us what was going on as soon as he could. (Nice guy!) Eventually he said there was a fire at West 4th and that our train would be turning around at 59th. We were probably in the tunnel for close to half an hour.

    When we got to 59th, the conductor told everyone to get out and go to the downtown D; this was widely derided by very sensible passengers who knew that a fire at West 4th wouldn't be letting the D go anywhere either. There was a stopped B train at the downtown platform, and soon a D arrived and stopped as well. At that point everyone headed for the downtown 1. I had to wait for two trains to go by before I could squeeze onto a third. All the 1 train conductors kept trying to close the doors on the huge mob of people attempting to get on the train; even the most blind of blind people could see that it was going to take us all a little while to board! That didn't improve anyone's mood any.

    I finally got on a 1 and got to work more than an hour late.

  • AW

    90 minute commute. I had to walk to work and now I smell like smoke. That's not a good way to start the day.

  • Max

    Took F from Carroll Gardens, got to Delancy where they said "due to ongoing police investigation this train is now out of service. Please exit the train". So I soothed my anger by getting a #1 (egg mcmuffin) at the Micky Dees. Of course after wolfing that down it was a race to the office.

  • JLM

    Was on the F at Jay St/Borough Hall at just before 9am when they told us no more F trains would be going on to Manhattan. They told us to get on the A across the tracks, so we piled on and waited a few minutes before they annouced "This is now the last stop on this train." So a mob of people went above ground and walked a few blocks over to where you can catch some other trains -- 4,5, etc.

    It was annoying, but not as bad as some incidents earlier this year or last year -- at least where I was.

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