Two people in Queens and Manhattan died Tuesday morning after being struck by subway trains in separate incidents, leading to major delays during the morning rush hour.
Just after 2:45 a.m. on March 7, police discovered a woman on the E line’s southbound trackbed at Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike in Queens. The woman was declared dead on arrival, police said; it’s not clear how she ended up on the tracks.
A little more than six hours later, at 8:56 a.m., police responded to a report of a man struck by a train at West 4th Street-Washington Square in Greenwich Village. The man was struck by a southbound train, cops said; he was also declared dead on arrival. A police spokesperson said no criminality is suspected in the West 4th Street incident.
Both of the tragic incidents led to significant delays for morning commuters. Service on the E/F line in the early morning hours was suspended between Forest Hills and Jamaica as police responded to the fatal strike at Kew Gardens.
Trains were still running with delays at 5 a.m., the MTA reported, though by the busiest points of rush hour the snags had mostly subsided.
Later, following the incident at West 4th Street, major delays were experienced on the B, C, D, E, F, and M lines. With the site of the incident being a major transfer hub, numerous subway lines experienced snowball effects. B service was suspended entirely, while D trains ran on the C line from Columbus Circle to Jay Street-MetroTech, and then on the F line from Jay Street to Coney Island.
F trains in Queens ran on the E line in Queens and then along the G into Brooklyn, bypassing Manhattan entirely, while Forest Hills-bound M trains were rerouted along the J line into lower Manhattan.
By 10:30 a.m., the MTA reported that trains on the B/D/F/M lines had resumed making regular stops.
Unrelated issues snagged other lines during the morning rush as well, according to the MTA’s live customer service alerts on Twitter. Brooklyn-bound M trains and World Trade Center-bound E trains experienced delays due to mechanical issues with a train at Court Square in Queens. The 1/2/3 line saw delays due to an “unauthorized person on the tracks” near Chambers Street.
Southbound A trains experienced delays after a track fire in Inwood, while northbound 4/5 trains were snagged when a customer required medical assistance at Grand Central.
Speaking of Grand Central, various trains were still experiencing delays Tuesday morning after Governor Kathy Hochul and the MTA retooled the Long Island Rail Road’s new schedules, bringing more shuttle trains between Jamaica and Brooklyn and adding cars to overcrowded trains heading to-and-from Penn Station.
Commuters had complained of diminished service from Long Island to Brooklyn and overcrowded trains headed to Penn, even as trains headed to the brand new Grand Central Madison appeared to leave Jamaica nearly empty.
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