Door Defect Disrupts Monday Morning Commute On N/W Lines

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A door defect disrupted subway commutes during Monday morning rush hour for riders heading from Astoria to Manhattan on the N and W lines and left the 30th Avenue subway platform packed to the brim.

At 8:37 a.m., crew members on a W train at the 30th Avenue station reported that a set of doors wasn't closing properly, according to MTA spokesperson Shams Tarek.

The crew asked all passengers to get off so they could return to the train yard for an inspection to figure out what went wrong.

Red indicator lights tell subway crew members when a door is or isn't closing but not why — reasons could include something getting stuck in between the doors, a mechanical malfunction or, more rarely, an issue with the indicator lights themselves, Tarek said.

The crew got the train moving seven minutes later so other trains could pick up the riders let out at 30th Avenue, which became so crowded that some commuters couldn't even make it up the stairs to the station platform.

Some N and W trains ran express from Ditmars Boulevard to Queensboro Plaza to make up for the delays and get service back on schedule, the MTA said on Twitter.