Subway Motorman to Dispatcher: "This is suicide!"

The stalled A train that had passengers trapped inside for seven hours may have gotten all the attention, but behind that train there was another train, driven by a motorman who repeatedly risked his life so that the train could crawl forward. Yann Willam Hicks says he had to get out of the train 20 times to clear snow from the metal signal arms that had become frozen in the storm. "I did this on the bridges above the water!" Hicks tells the Post. "We'd travel for a bit, get stuck, I'd get out, then we'd travel again... Every time I jumped off the train, I couldn't see the third rail—I had no idea where it was... I told the dispatcher, 'You've got to be kidding! You're sending us out in this stuff? This is suicide!" But it was all worth it to get everybody to Aqueduct station in the middle of the night in a blizzard!

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By John Del Signore in News on December 29, 2010 4:45 PM

Comments [rss]

mistermarkdavis

a lot of commenters like to complaining about unions. I just want to say hats off to the city workers busting ass while I'm sitting on mine.

cr17

What's the big deal about knowing there's going to be a huge storm and then shutting down the trains and buses? If you've got somewhere to go then go there before the storm comes. Pay skywriters to write "HUGE FUCKING STORM COMING - GO HOME" all over the place for those people who don't read newspapers, use the internet, watch TV, or speak to other people. After that you've been warned and it's on you. The trains ALWAYS break down when there's a storm, and as we've seen this week buses are completely inept at navigating snow. Go the hell home and hunker down.

Merf Derf

What you don't seem to understand is that not everyone has the option to not go to work. Even when "everything is closed" and people are told to stay home, there a thousands of people working that need to be where they are.

Shabazz Stuart

so instead people get stuck all over the city and grumble when their trains get stalled.

FYI... all the stalled trains and busses prevented millions from getting to work on the time in the days after the storm.

jaycjay

"I couldn't see the third rail—I had no idea where it was..."

I understand his feeling in general, and if I were a motorman I wouldn't be happy about having to leave the train to clear snow, but... come on. The third rail is always in exactly the same place in relation to both the train and the track bed. You don't have to be able to see it to know precisely where it is.

zombie_cakes

The third rail often alternates which side of the track it's on, as do the signals he was trying to clear off. If completely covered in snow, he has no idea which side of the track the third rail is on. Either way, motorman of the year to this guy.