'Subway Ride From Hell' Survivor Calls For Investigation

SOHO, NY — One of the riders stuck on the infamous "subway ride from hell" earlier this month is launching a campaign to demand that the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority fix its crumbling transit system.

Michael Sciaraffo, a city employee and one of the unlucky straphangers who was stuck on a sweaty, cramped F train on June 5, launched a campaign on Monday demanding that the MTA step up and address the city's aging train network. (Want more local news? Subscribe here for free breaking news alerts, features, neighborhood updates and more from Patch.)

"Just had a very memorable, yet not so fun experience on the train ride home," Sciaraffo wrote in a viral Facebook post on June 5. "I was taking a packed F train home, that had no working AC when we abruptly stopped in a tunnel. The engines shut down, the lights go off and with no exaggeration, we were stuck there for 45 minutes in what felt like 120 degree heat."

Sciaraffo, who was on an F train stuck between West Fourth Street and Broadway-Lafayette stations, wrote that "the windows started getting steamed up" and "claustrophobia, panic and heat exhaustion began to set in."

Now, Sciaraffo is taking matters into his hands. Sciaraffo said Monday that he was disappointed by the lack of urgency he seen from authorities after the incident. He said that he's conducted his own investigation into the June 5 breakdown, interviewing fellow passengers and MTA employees. Sciaraffo, a Brooklyn resident, is calling on multiple authorities, including Cuomo, newly appointed-MTA Chairman Joe Lhota, and the National Transportation Safety Board, to launch a review of the incident and the MTA's emergency protocols.

"Passengers had no way to escape the near deadly conditions and began to suffocate in the dangerous temperatures, with no way to open doors for ventilation and no way to communicate to the conductor as to what was happening inside the cars," Sciaraffo said in a statement. "This event was an unacceptable failure on many levels. The MTA must do a better job of communicating with passengers during an emergency."

In addition to the stalled train, riders say the MTA continued to blame the delays on "train traffic ahead," though later said the incident was due to a power failure.

Lead image via Chelsea Lawrence/Twitter.