Signal Power Failure Halts UWS Train Service; Passengers Evacuated

FEBRUARY 5 -- TWU Local 100 Transit crews operated with great professionalism when a sudden failure of power to the signal system between 96th Street and 72nd Street on the Upper West Side brought all service on the 1, 2, and 3 trains to a halt at 8:40 AM, the height of rush hour. As a fully loaded ten-car No. 2 train came to a dead stop south of 96th Street, Conductor Tyler Croft kept passengers' spirits up as they waited in the tunnel for 35 minutes, by making frequent announcements informing them about the MTA's progress in assessing and fixing the outage. When he mentioned the news coverage that was most likely accompanying the incident, passengers exchanged smiles. Croft advised passengers of the presence of MTA crews on the tracks, and then conducted an orderly evacuation of all passengers once the last two cars were backed up into the station, allowing egress. Signal crews wearing their yellow hardhats were on the scene along with FDNY within minutes. The outage was fixed and service was restored at approximately 10:30.