Passengers on a NJT train were trapped for almost two hours — some of it in complete darkness — when a train was disabled after leaving Penn Station. Checkey Beckford reports.
Passengers on a NJ Transit train were trapped for almost two hours -- some of it in complete darkness -- when a train was disabled after leaving Penn Station Monday evening.
The 6279 train bound for Montclair at 6:10 p.m. became disabled 15 minutes later, east of the Broad Street Station in Newark, NJ Transit spokesperson Nathan Rudy said.
Trains on some lines were backed up for as much as an hour due to congestion caused by the incident. Get the latest transit alerts here.
Commuters posted videos to social media from the stuck train that appeared to show a power outage in some carriages, with passengers sitting in darkness.
Some complained that they were uncomfortably hot and crowded. Others reported feeling scared, with one person saying fights were breaking out on the train and two passengers had become sick.
"1 hour now stuck on a bridge outside Newark on @NJTRANSIT with no air. Two sick passengers. Fights. Cops have now had to walk the bridge to come on and make arrests and when they opened the door to let them on, people jumped off and started running for the platform. Insanity," Sarah Hansen posted to Twitter.
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Rudy said a rescue train arrived shortly before 8 p.m. and pulled the train into Broad Street. He said no passengers were treated by EMS.
Richard Richards, operator: Honestly, as an operator, I have to tell them something. In an attempt to keep the customers calm you tell them we have traffic ahead, we have delays ahead, but in honesty we don't always know 'cause they are not telling us and radio communications can be choppy.
nJoe Costales, conductor: The system is antiquated, the relay for the radio systems are not kept up, they are not repaired, they are not constantly checked so there are black-out areas.
nCrystal Young, conductor: We may talk to them over the radio and they can hear us but we can't hear what they are saying. Sometimes when we are on a train it's not that we don't want to let the customers know what's going on, we don't have the communications to let them know what's going on.
Costales: All the time.
nRichards: They had hot-plates they had TVs, they literally lived back there.
nCostales: You see them coming out. A lot of times people who get hit by trains, are the ones living in the subway.
nBrandon Patterson, conductor: Sometimes when we go to set up tracks we go down there and they get mad because they think we are invading their home space.
Richards: I've seen people actually having sex on the train.
nCostales: Masturbating, having sex.
nRichards: And they've got a bed set up, they tap into the third rail and they are watching TV.
nYoung: One time someone brought a goat on the train. They bought it at a live mart.
Tramell Thompson, conductor: The E train has been dubbed 'The Homeless Express', it's one of those lines that doesn't go outside. So from terminal to terminal it's underground. It's pretty warm. You have new, nicer trains over there, it's clean over there. And you know the homeless, you go on there at midnight, you'll see five or six homeless people in each car. But the homeless isn't really the issue with us, it's mainly the drunks.
Richards: In the middle of the car. You don't want to sit in the corners [because that's where people throw up and urinate]. Also by the doors, you'll be on your phone and as soon as the doors get ready to close, they snatch it and they're off.
Conductors: A safe place to ride on a subway train would be in the middle of the train in the conductor's car or in the very first car where the train operator's going to be. That way at least you're closest to a crew member to help if they have to.
Conductors: Absolutely.
nYoung: At the end of the line they have a sign that shows on-time job performance, where they literally track to see how many people were injured while in performance of their duty so that's what they are concerned about. It's easier for a passenger to make a complaint versus us making a complaint because they just want to keep that train moving.
nPatterson: The MTA's logo is 'Every second counts,' so every second counts to them.
nYoung: Some superintendents, if someone has to take a comfort they want you to write a [note]. So you have to, as an adult, write down on a piece of paper that you had to use the bathroom. God forbid if you use the bathroom too often, then they will try to write you up.
Tramell Thompson, train conductor: Anything, EDPs (emotionally disturbed person), anything. Could be a disturbance on the train, fights.n
Eric Loegel, train operator: Unattended package, suspicious package..."customer injury" as they say. A customer injury is generally someone who has been struck by a train. And we internally refer to that as a 12-9.
Patterson: No, I try not to. I tell [my kids] not to touch anything, I carry hand sanitizer.
nRichards: I don't touch the poles or I sit in the middle...I'm a big guy, I brace myself.
nCostales: We transport millions of people, it's hard to keep it that clean.
Patterson: Standing behind the yellow line, the [public] leans over looking for the train, they could slip, and that's what causes 12-9s and delays
nRichards: I've seen people fall on the tracks 'cause they hear the announcement and they think the train is on their track and they start straight walking because they are online...we get conditioned, oh the train is here, they start walking and they fall.
