Today’s Half-Hour Emergency Break Application Delay:
I’m on way to Brooklyn to go to work. I’m sitting in the last car that has some people standing but is relatively empty. At about 10:00am just south of 34 Street I heard that awful sound of air rushing out of the breaks and us slowly stopping (not quite as jerky as I remember) the first announcement is “We apologize for this delay, we hope to be moving shortly” later the T/O came on and said that “The trains emergency breaks have been applied and we are investigating. We should be moving shortly” A couple of C trains passed then an E train. I’m to far from a station so there isn’t anyway to tell my boss I’m running late.
- 10:23 – Notice an E train stopped behind us, head lights briefly off, tooting its horn twice before proceeding with another generic “Ladies and gentlemen the emergency breaks have been activated, we are currently investigating and hope to be moving shortly”. This means our crew is walking the exterior of the train to investigate the emergency break application. The passengers are clearly getting restless but no one is completely breaking down (and showing anger and range).
- 10:25 – “We have investigated the BVE and will be moving in a few minutes.” Another A train passes us on the local track at full speed.
- 10:27 – We move very slowly and start to pass 23 Street before speeding up again.
We resume speed and arrive at 14 Street at 10:29 just missing a C train across from us. I text my boss that I’m late. At West 4th Street we connect. I could have run over but my train seems to have resumed normal speeds.
At 10:34 We stop again north of Canal. I wider why? The C train stops next to us. Then slowly passes us. I should have switched! I assume it would be smooth sailing down the express track with nothing a head of us since we were blocking it for a half-hour. We move again at 10:37 into Canal Street. The C is there and I walk across. My ill-fated A train does go ahead of us but I just want to be on a different train. The R32 C train I’m now on squeaks its way stuck behind that A train towards Brooklyn. I finally get to the office at 11:00 a half hour later than I wanted too.
Coming home around 3:00 something to note also happened, announcements were being made: “Do to a rail condition all A trains are running local between 145 Street and 168 Street.” We get to 145 Street and the conductor announces all local stops, 155 Street is next. We leave, switch onto the local track, and run express on the local without stopping, bypassing 155th and 163rd Streets with the double-toot! I hope no one actually listed to the conductor. The overall delays were minimal.
Todays Babylon Brach Update Continuation Down that Line:
- Seaford–(53 photos plus 11 of artwork)
- Wantagh–(52 new photos on a rebuilt section)
- Bellmore–(33 Photos plus 8 of artwork)
- Merrick–(60 Photos plus 11 of art)
Enjoy!