MTA pulls pricey new subway fleet again after moving train detatches
The MTA pulled its newest fleet of subway cars out of service for the second time this year — after two cars detached from a moving train in Manhattan early Wednesday, officials said.
“Early today, just after 1 a.m. a northbound A train became separated between the sixth and seventh cars of the ten-car train as it entered Chambers Street Station,” interim transit president Sarah Feinberg said in a statement.
“At this time, we believe this to be an isolated incident, however, I am launching a full investigation, and out of an abundance of caution, the entire R179 fleet is being pulled from service until further notice.”
Straphanger Hupaul Camacho, who was en route to work when the incident occurred, posted a photo to Twitter of the two cars slipping apart from one another.
“Sooo the whole back of this train DETATCHED,” he wrote alongside the image.
Camacho added to The Post later Wednesday that he got scared after moving to the rear of his carriage, and seeing that the other car had separated but “was still kind of attached by the metal springs that hold the train together.”
“I took the picture and kind of backed away. I didn’t know if the tension from the springs would make it snap or whatever,” he said.
Just two of the train’s 10 cars ultimately made it into the station, Camacho said. He said he wound up taking a cab to his job at UPS.
The MTA began using the trains made by Canada’s Bombardier train company in 2017, and yanked the entire fleet for two weeks in January following multiple instances of train doors opening in between stations.
In December, city Comptroller Scott Stringer accused the MTA of shoddy oversight of its $635 million R179 purchase, which suffered from years of costly delays.
Transit workers have voiced other complaints about the pricey wagons — including slippery controls, stiff windows and other ergonomic design flaws.
“They were not that well made,” one conductor told The Post in January. “The window handle sticks into your neck if you’re six feet tall. You could be 5’11” it still hits your neck. I’ll see. I haven’t seen them yet.”
Feinberg said spare cars will be deployed in the R179s’ place. The replacement trains used in January dated as far back as 1964.
The MTA has vowed to hold Bombardier financially responsible for the lemon locomotives.
The company has already said it will deliver 18 additional trains as a result of the door snafus.
Bombardier said in a statement that the incident is being investigated with the MTA and Wabtec — the supplier of the “link bar” between the cars — but it would “reserve additional comments until the results of these actions are known.”