Here's What Broke The F Train Wednesday Morning
April 25, 2019, 9:05 a.m.
Damn you Hal's New York Seltzer Water!!
On Wednesday morning, F train riders faced a very effed up rush hour commute. Those extensive delays, which ensnared other lines including the A, C, and G, were caused by a toxic combination of signal malfunctions and, most treacherously, because an F train's brakes were activated near York Street, trapping passengers inside for almost 30 minutes.
Based on the NYCT's tweets about the situation, some people jumped to the conclusion that an "absolute moron on the F train" had pulled the emergency brake, causing the situation. But late on Wednesday, the MTA revealed that something even more moronic caused it: a seltzer bottle. Damn you Hal's New York Seltzer Water!!
This morning, we reported that a “train’s brakes were automatically activated” along the F line, disrupting many of your commutes. We’re often asked, “what activated the brakes?” Today’s answer? This seltzer bottle, which was found under a signal stop arm at York St. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/12RGbQCav2
— NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) April 24, 2019
Our crews work hard every day to keep our infrastructure functioning as smoothly as possible. We want to get you where you’re going—safely, and when you need to be there. Let’s work together to make that happen every day. (3/3)
— NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) April 24, 2019
It's troubling that something as seemingly innocuous as a water bottle can bring vital parts of our transit system to its knees, but New Yorkers should be better about being responsible and throwing their own trash out instead of throwing it on the tracks! That doesn't seem unreasonable. I can think of tons of instances in the last week alone when I witnessed people throwing used plastic bags or wrappers either onto the tracks or underneath the seats on trains.
But of course, that means stations need to have unobstructed garbage cans to do so...which some on Twitter pointed out can be hard to find at certain stations.
I will also say. Often on the F line stations there are garbage bags over the trash cans covering them up for some reason. What do you expect commuters to do??? #MTA
— Brooklyn IS... (@IsraelTheILLa) April 24, 2019
What is the MTA going to do about the litter problem? I hear announcements about it all the time but don't see it enforced. Just saw a guy leave his coffee cup this morning. You can't expect passengers to enforce this. It's bad enough telling smokers to not do it on platforms.
— Jennifer Rodriguez (@DJSoggyFries) April 24, 2019
And others wondered whether this was missing the larger point—namely, that a stray piece of trash can literally bring multiple lines to a standstill.
Hi, Jacob. We understand your rationale around this. However, aside from it causing signal issues, any sort of debris on the tracks can cause track fires which just leads to bigger issues than just a signal problem. We work as hard as we can to fix any issues that arise 1/2^KB
— NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) April 24, 2019
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