GOV-HOCHUL
New York, NY (77WABC)-NY Gov. Kathy Hochul has called for a full investigation into Sunday night’s subway disruptions which caused outages on the MTA’s number 1 through 7 and “L” subway lines into early Monday. Backup systems failed and an “unprecedented surge” occurred. Half of the MTA’s subway system went down. Commuters on five of seven subway lines self-evacuated as train conductors lost communications and signalization.
In Manhattan this morning, Gov. Hochul said Con Ed experienced a power dip around 8:25 pm. She said an unprecedented perfect “confluence” of events resulted. At the time, two power plants and two generators went off line. The system went to back up but the Governor said an unprecented power surge occurred stranding seven subway lines. Signalization and communications were lost.
Providing an update with @MTA officials on subway service disruptions.
Tune in here at 7am ⬇️https://t.co/Rzp6Aow5wo
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) August 30, 2021
The Governor says officials do not believe the disruptions are related to any type of malicious activity.
She said a manhole fire in Long Island City is not believed related to the subway outages. The system was restored at 1:30 am. Gov. Hochul said service would have been restored by midnight but the FDNY had to physically search subway tracks to make sure no riders, who self-evacuated, were still on the tracks.
Gov. Hochul assured New Yorkers that the cause of the disruptions will be identified and fixed because such an outage can “never happen again.”
