A man died early Monday morning after being struck by an oncoming train in Midtown — the latest death on the tracks in one of the subway system’s deadliest months in memory.
Police sources said the operator of a Bronx-bound D train spotted a man in the trackbed at the 47th-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center subway station at 5:46 a.m. on Oct. 31.
The unidentified man was quickly pronounced deceased. It’s unclear whether he was hit by the same train he was spotted from or by an earlier train, and police are still investigating how the man ended up on the tracks, whether it was deliberate or accidental.
The incident generated extensive delays for Monday morning straphangers along the B, D, F, and M lines; the Bronx-bound D train was rerouted to the A line, which caused delays on both lines as they shared tracks, while Bronx-bound B service was suspended. The F and M also saw delays; Queens-bound F trains were rerouted along the G line, while the M stopped running into northern Queens.
An MTA spokesperson said that the delays had been resolved and service had been restored along the lines.
The man’s demise culminates an unusually deadly month for the transit system. Numerous people died on the rails or in subway stations in October, whether by accident, suicide, or murder, with many incidents drawing headlines.
Fifteen-year-old Jayjon Burnett was fatally shot on an A train in Far Rockaway on Oct. 14; three days later, 48-year-old Heriberto Quintana died after being struck by an F train at Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue, having found himself on the tracks following a physical altercation. A number of others have died after jumping in front of oncoming trains.
October’s non-fatal incidents have also put straphangers on edge. One 62-year-old man was sucker-punched and fell to the tracks at the 149th Street-Grand Concourse station in the south Bronx, allegedly the victim of the “knockout game” where participants attempt to knock out strangers in a single slug, police say.
Days before that, a 32-year-old broke his collarbone after being randomly shoved onto the tracks at the Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues station straddling the Brooklyn and Queens border. Another woman fractured her spine after being pushed down the stairs at the 82nd Street-Jackson Heights stop on the 7 line.
Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul last week announced that the system would see a surge of cops to establish “omnipresence” and deter would-be brutes and good-for-nothings from committing violent acts in stations or on trains.
