Community Corner

Lexington Ave. Subway Line Sees Many Trains Cancelled Every Day: Report

Overcrowding led the MTA to cancel about 14 percent of Lex Ave. trains every morning in June and July, the New York Times found.

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NEW YORK CITY, NY – Numerous trains on the subway system’s most crowded line are effectively cancelled every day, according to a new report.

The New York Times found dozens of trains were cancelled every day on the 4, 5 and 6 lines in June and July, leaving thousands of passengers struggling for space on ever more cramped trains.

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Overcrowding was found to be the prime reason for the train cancellations.

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“It’s a self-feeding problem,” Ellyn Shannon of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, a riders’ group at the MTA, was quoted as saying. “Crowds get bigger and slow the trains down more, and you lose capacity. But if you have fewer trains, the crowding will build and the trains slow down more.”

MTA Chairman Joe Lhota told the Times his priority is reducing the wait between trains, not meeting posted schedules.

Read the rest of the New York Times article here.

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Lead image by SFW Photography via Flickr.

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