NYC Subway Delays: Train Problems, Police Mess Up 8 Lines

NEW YORK, NY — Police investigations and train problems messed up Friday morning commutes on eight subway lines. Straphangers were hit with delays or service changes on the D, N, C, R, 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines, according to MTA alerts.

The 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines initially suffered delays after a train's brakes were activated automatically at President Street in Brooklyn. The incident briefly caused 3 trains to run express from Utica Avenue to Atlantic Avenue.

Normal service resumed at about 9:30 a.m. — but the problems weren't over.

A 5 train lost power at Franklin Avenue while sitting on top of a switch, preventing other trains from getting around it in both directions, New York City Transit said on Twitter.

Service between Manhattan and Brooklyn had resumed as of 10:50 a.m. after the train was moved off the switch, but delays continued as workers investigated the cause of the problem, the agency tweeted.

One straphanger previously tweeted that she and about 100 passengers were taken off a train at President Street because a train had lost power up ahead. Another, Alex Engel, wrote that he'd been waiting for a train at Franklin Avenue for more than 40 minutes.

"Would be nice for the status to indicate this, rather than unspecified delays," Engel tweeted.

Additionally, C trains were passing by the Kingston-Throop stop in Brooklyn because of a street-level police investigation, the MTA said. The station is near where a police officer was shot in the leg Friday morning.

Another NYPD investigation at 36th Street in Brooklyn caused delays on the D, N and R lines earlier Friday.

The incident forced northbound D trains to run local from 36th Street to Atlantic Avenue and northbound N trains to run local from 59th Street in Brooklyn to Atlantic Avenue, the MTA said. Service had resumed as of 9:38 a.m.

The problems cropped up on a day when planned work already had service changes in place on the Q, J, M and B lines.

(Lead image: Photo by Maria Cormack-Pitts/Patch)