Hundreds of commuters, most coming back from JFK last night, have been trapped on an A train since roughly 1 a.m. Please be patient! (We've also been told that passengers have been stuck on the N train near Bay Parkway since 9 p.m. last night.) The A train, which is stuck above ground at the Aqueduct Race Track station, is packed with travelers who were turned away from the airport last night. With the Air Train shut down due to the blizzard, many of them were escorted to the A train via shuttle bus. But once on board, they didn't get very far. They could, however, pass the time with Twitter. Here are some transmissions from the "dead" A train:
About two hours ago, stranded passenger and Twitter user OMJohnnyG (who describes himself as "random as fcuk" in his Twitter profile) wrote, "Son!!! I wanna go home!!! Dudes on the train talking about cannibalism lol I want out!!!" And then: "6 o clock we gonna be live on abc news... But that don't mean nothing!!! I'm hungry." But amidst the despair, a note of triumph: "I'm lucky I'm a dude. I'll just whip it out n pee out the last car. Lol."
The train is reportedly disabled because the storm shut down power to the third rail, and riders say they're cold. It initially stalled between the Aqueduct and Rockaway Blvd. stations, and sometime overnight managed to crawl to the Aqueduct Station. But the Daily News reports that the MTA was not opening the doors so that passengers could get off. At some point during the night, passengers were told that a rescue train was on the way, but they were later informed that the rescue train had died as well.
"It wasn't like the storm just snuck up on us," one rider tells the News. "They were aware ... They need to have a backup plan. This isn't a Third World country. This is New York City." An MTA spokesman tells us they're still attempting to get a rescue train in there, but NY1 says they've been rescued. We are hearing reports of other stranded trains, and will update when we know more. In the meantime, check the MTA site for updates on your subway line. (Right now it looks like only the 7 and the G are running normally.) The MTA issued this statement:
Due to the unprecedented severity of this storm, there are major disruptions across our system that we expect to continue through the morning rush hour. For the sake of safety, we are urging people to stay home if at all possible. If travel is absolutely necessary customers should log onto mta.info before commuting this morning.
