An unusually loud train motor snarled train service on the A and C lines during the tail end of the Monday morning rush hour.
On social media Monday, riders began reporting waits exceeding 15 minutes shortly after 9 a.m. as MTA crews investigated a “loud noise” at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station, an MTA representative said through its official subway Twitter account.
An MTA crew “had to check each train car and the tracks in the area,” the representative said.
The noise in question was later attributed to a motor of a train on the line, said the representative, adding in a subsequent tweet that “the train is safe for service. That train will go to the terminal and then the train yard for repairs.”
MTA spokeswoman Amanda Kwan clarified further, reporting that an A train motor’s track circuit had stopped working. Once the MTA identified the source of the noise, it was able to leave that train in service, with a motor in another one of the train’s eight cars moving the train.
It was not immediately clear what was wrong with the motor. The MTA did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Frustrated commuters on social media described waiting on stalled trains for 10 to 20 minutes, with delays rippling into the late morning and early afternoon.
“It varies between trains being stuck due to “traffic” and then trains not showing for 20 — 25 mins at a time,” wrote one Twitter user who was trying to catch an A train heading uptown.
“There is no reason why I should be stuck underground on the A train for over 10 minutes, after leaving my house 2 hours early to still be LATE for work? Get it together @MTA,” another tweeted.
Monday was a struggle for the A and C. Southbound trains on the lines were further delayed around noon, when the MTA had to repair a nail near the Fulton Street station. Some of those southbound trains were being rerouted over the F line between the West 4th St-Washington Square and Jay St-MetroTech stations.
