As City, State and MTA officials seemed to be losing their collective heads over the 'A' Train derailment on Tuesday morning, TWU train crews and Maintenance of Way personnel calmly and quickly got the situation under control.
The derailment at the end of the morning rush caused panic among the passengers as smoke invaded some of the cars. The train's crew immediately began an orderly and professional evacuation. The crew got the vast majority of passengers to walk to the front of the train to get out onto the platform through the first two cars which made it into the station. Some panicked passengers left the train from the rear onto the tracks to walk back to the previous station. The crew urged those passengers to return to the train and get out the safe way through the front. Most listened.
After all passengers were accounted for, Local 100 Maintenance personnel moved in like the cavalry. All MOW titles responded. Debris was removed from the tracks, signals were repaired, and the train was re-railed and moved out of the way. Modified service was restored before the evening rush. MOW members continued work throughout the night to get the system ready for the morning.
Tony Utano, TWU Local 100 Vice President for the Maintenance of Way Division, said: "This was a serious derailment, with quite of bit of damage to signals and some structural damage to the walls. Our members worked as fast and safely as possible to bring the system back to normal."
Local 100 President John Samuelsen responded to numerous media outlets and insisted that subway system needs a substantial and immediate infusion of cash, mainly from the City of New York, for non-capital state of good repair work. "The long-term capital projects are vital to providing a modern, safe, reliable system in the future," said Samuelsen. "But what is needed today, immediately, is more financial resources for regular, on-going maintenance to insure that the system can handle today's record ridership."
Exclusive photos of the scene were provided by Track Chair Paul Navarro and Vice Chair Duvet Williams. Many of those photos can be seen in the media links below. Click on the links to see how the story of the derailment played out in the media, and how TWU members and officials are quoted.
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