MOTT HAVEN, The Bronx (WABC) — The MTA now believes a "mechanical failure" may be the cause behind several subway cars detaching from the rest of a train in the Bronx over the weekend.
The incident happened around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday near the 149th Street-Grand Concourse station in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. Officials say three train cars detached from a 10-car No. 4 subway train, leaving service at a temporary standstill at the station.
On Monday, New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said the separation of train cars is "an unusual incident," but says the train's brakes immediately activated as intended.
"The system itself failed as it should have in a safe position. The train brakes when applied, brought the train, both sections of the train to a stop safely," Crichlow said.
It was frightening moments for the dozens of subway riders in the Bronx after the train cars detached while in motion. Jesus Aponte of the Bronx tells Eyewitness News he was one of the 238 passengers on the stranded No. 4 train.
"I was sitting on the train and all I heard was a big crash, and all of a sudden I see a bunch of lights and sparks," Aponte said.
MTA officials say it was an unusual emergency activation of the train brakes, which prompted the train to separate between the third and fourth subway cars. There were 60 passengers in the first three subway cars, while the rest were in the rear seven cars.
"Once you seen the sparks, you felt this big thud. It was like a big 'buh-boom.' It was like it jumped up and came down and it all went dark," Aponte said.
Moments later, Aponte said the train conductor got off to inspect the train and tracks.
"It was kind of scary. It was kind of scary that we couldn't find a way out and that we were trapped," he said.
Above ground, Bridgette Berkley, a mother from the Bronx, was anxious waiting for her 14-year-old son who was also trapped on the train.
"He's panicking, he's panicking right now. He's 14 years old," Berkley told Eyewitness News. "Panicking, hyperventilating, like he's going through the works right now. I'm just trying to waiting for my baby to get off the train."
Firefighters and police officers made their way down to the detached cars and after about 30 minutes. Aponte says crews had to wait for the MTA to shut off the electricity.
"Honestly we really need to figure out what's going on with our maintenance," Aponte said.
Eyewitness News took Aponte's concerns to the MTA.
"It's currently under investigation. We have a very rigorous inspection protocol for our trains and in addition to our normal day-to-day inspections of trains, we're also going to go out and inspect all of the R-142 car class to ensure that there is no other issues remaining with the cars," Crichlow said.
More than 1,000 R-142 subway cars are now being inspected following the incident.
While the R-142 cars come assembled as a set, the cars that decoupled Sunday night had previously been separated in the yard in June. The trainset passed a subsequent inspection in August.
Officials say a rescue train was sent to the station for passengers onboard to transfer from the disabled train to the platform. There were no injuries reported as a result of the incident, police said.
Train service has since been restored to the subway station as the MTA continues its investigation.
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