Service is suspended for 1, 2 and 3 trains in most of Manhattan after a train derailment near 96th Street on the Upper West Side Thursday afternoon, the MTA said.
New York City Transit president Richard Davey said at around 3 p.m., two 1 trains traveling at slow speeds bumped into each other just north of the station, causing both trains to derail.
According to Davey, one train was carrying hundreds of passengers and the other was out of service, with four MTA workers on board.
Crews are currently working to restore 1, 2 and 3 train service by Friday morning, but Davey said that is not guaranteed.
At least 26 people suffered minor injuries during the incident, the FDNY said. They were inspected at the scene and taken to nearby hospitals.
Evelyn Aguilar was onboard the train when it derailed and said the experience was frightening.
"Honestly, I didn't think I was going to make it out of it," Aguilar said. "It looked destroyed. The floors weren't even straight. They were lifted, bended, everything."
Emergency responders evacuated the derailed train with passengers and another commuter train behind it, officials said. Each had 300 to 500 people, according to the FDNY.
At 3:01 today, FDNY units responded to a train derailment at the 96th St. 1/2/3 station. Units arrived in minutes, began a structural assessment and evacuation of passengers from the derailed train. pic.twitter.com/nEASIl2pQE
— FDNY (@FDNY) January 5, 2024
Davey said the out-of-service train had had all of its emergency chords pulled.
“They were able to reset all of them except one, and that was the reason that train was stuck in the station,” Davey said.
The incident remains under investigation.
“Obviously, two trains should not be bumping into one another. We are going to get to the bottom of that,” Davey said.