Hundreds of Transit Workers Joined in Response Effort on Thanksgiving Eve
View B-roll Video of MTA Response
Hundreds of Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) frontline employees worked through the afternoon ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday to restore subway service at the 103 St station following a water main break at street level at the corner of West 102 St and Central Park West on the Upper West Side. The incident, involving a ruptured 12-inch city water main that dates back to 1951, occurred at approximately 1:39 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon causing a significant amount of water to enter the station from street level.
NYCT Department of Subways teams responded within minutes after the notification of the water main break, assessing the scene, and managing the pump room near this location. Crews subsequently isolated the water main and mitigated water intrusion into the station. Transit crews manually cleared drains and gate valves, used pumps to remove water from the tracks and platform, cleared debris, and cleaned the station to ensure it was ready for restoration of service. Teams also inspected the tracks to ensure there was no damage to track circuits.
Service was restored to the Central Park West line at approximately 6:22 p.m.
“The team did a really great job getting to the scene and assessing the conditions,” said New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow. “They worked with NYC-DEP to quickly isolate the area and shut down water from coming into the system.”
MTA Communications kept customers updated in real-time, delivering updates to hundreds of thousands of riders across the Authority’s website, apps, e-mail alert distribution system and digital signage during the service disruption.