Feb.2, 2015 Staff Report
No. 7 train commuters riding between Flushing Main Street and 42nd St-Times Square have been left stranded for hours as ice on the third rail has resulted in no train service in either direction.
Many commuters in Sunnyside said at about noon that they had been waiting for the train for over two hours–as power on the line had gone out. One woman at the 46th Street stop said she was stuck on the train near the 33rd Street station for over two hours when service stopped. She was crying because she was so shaken up by the experience.
Meanwhile lines for the bus on Queens Blvd snaked around the block.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer said that he had been hearing from constituents through Facebook and Twitter about the problem all morning. He said that he had visited the 52nd Street station in Woodside and discovered that there had been a track fire at the station caused by an umbrella falling on the track–making the situation worse.
He said that the MTA had not provided him with an update of when the power will come back. However, he said that he is pushing the agency to make sure the power has been restored so workers are able to make it home from Manhattan during rush hour.
“We need to get these trains running again…because people will need to get home in a couple of hours,” Van Bramer said.
