'Huge Crowd Conditions' Along L Line After Debris Stops Service Into Manhattan

March 14, 2019, 9:19 a.m.

Today was just a little taste of what's to come this weekend, where there won't be an L train between Brooklyn and Manhattan whatsoever.

The MTA was forced to suspend Manhattan-bound L train service during the Thursday morning rush after debris on the tracks at the First Avenue stop tripped a train's brakes around 7:30 a.m. Workers cut power to the third rail in order to assess the problem and remove the debris; during this time 8th Avenue-bound L service stopped at Bedford Avenue or Myrtle Avenue. On the whole, this was not great, Bob!

It's unclear if the debris on the tracks was the result of work being done in and around First Avenue as part of the L train tunnel rehabilitation plan. (An MTA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) The MTA says the debris has been cleared and L service in Manhattan has resumed, with those lovely residual delays.

As an added rush hour hell house bonus, northbound F and M trains have been running express from W 4 St-Washington Sq to 34 St-Herald Sq because of a signal problem at 34 St-Herald Sq, while a train with a door problem had to be taken out of service at Delancey St-Essex St. Coupled with the L train shitshow, the M was exceptionally crowded. Here's what doughty Gothamist reporter Jake Offenhartz endured in his quest to get to headquarters this morning:

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(Jake Offenhartz / Gothamist)

A reminder: Enjoy today's L train fiasco, because the L won't be running into Manhattan at all this weekend, starting Friday night.

UPDATE 9:30 a.m.: And to cap things off, we've got a crap train at Union Square.

UPDATE 1:30 p.m. A spokesperson for the MTA, Max Young, provided Gothamist with the following statement:

"This morning a Brooklyn-bound L train was forced to hold as it was pulling out of the 1st Avenue station to allow personnel to investigate the possibility of maintenance materials on the track. Service was resumed within 40 minutes, and we are still investigating the matter to ensure this will not happen again. This type of incident is completely unacceptable to the MTA and — more importantly — to our customers, to whom we apologize.”

It's unclear whether any maintenance material actually fell on the track, or if the MTA worker was merely investigating "the possibility" of debris. The spokesperson did not respond to Gothamist's follow up questions.

Additional reporting by Jake Offenhartz