MTA Reveals Cause Of Subway Derailment

HARLEM, MANHATTAN — The MTA said that an A train derailed at 125th Street during the Tuesday morning commute because a maintenance worker left a piece of replacement rail unsecured on the tracks.

It's common practice for workers to store equipment in between railroad tracks, but that equipment must be properly secured to avoid an accident. That "does not appear to have happened in this case," new MTA Chairman Joe Lhota and Interim Executive Director Ronnie Hakim said in a statement late Tuesday night.

"The cause appears to be human error, not a track defect," the statement said.

"NYCT is inspecting every inch of rail to ensure that each and every replacement part is properly stored and secured," the statement concluded. "Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers. The investigation into this incident continues."

Repairs near the subway station were still causing problems during Wednesday morning's commute on the A, B and D lines.

The southbound train derailed around 9:40 a.m. on Tuesday morning when the train was pulling into the 125th Street station and the emergency brakes were activated.

Commuters were hurt as they were tossed through the train cars as they scraped the sides of the tunnel. Passengers were then forced to walk through a dark subway tunnel before emerging to safety.

All of the injuries were non-life-threatening. At least six people were taken to the hospital.

Photo by @nrik_nyc, Twitter, used with permission