Traffic & Transit

Here's Why Your Monday Evening Commute To Queens Was Such A Mess

Four subway lines ferrying commuters to Queens shut down Monday evening thanks to a malfunctioning switch. We explain how it happened.

Four subway lines ferrying commuters to Queens shut down Monday evening thanks to a malfunctioning switch.
Four subway lines ferrying commuters to Queens shut down Monday evening thanks to a malfunctioning switch. (Courtesy of Tim Lee)

QUEENS, NY — Four subway lines ferrying commuters to Queens shut down during the Monday evening rush thanks to a malfunctioning switch in Jackson Heights, causing delays to ripple through the subway system.

The mayhem left riders wondering how to get home — and how could a single switch so badly cripple four subway lines?

The delays on the E, F, M and R trains, which started about 5:15 p.m. Monday, traced back to a switch just east of the 74th Street-Roosevelt Avenue station, where those four lines converge.

Find out what's happening in Forest Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That switch is on the express track and swivels back and forth to keep trains going express to Forest Hills or divert them to the local track as needed, an MTA spokesperson told Patch.

Monday's subway meltdown started when that switch acted as if it were moving express trains to the local side, preventing express trains from speeding straight to Forest Hills-71st Avenue and blocking local trains on the M/R line.

Find out what's happening in Forest Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To get around the issue while subway workers repaired the switch, other workers directed trains forward one by one, a process called flagging in MTA-speak. That slowed things down on the four affected lines and caused delays to spread throughout the system, exacerbated by the large quantity of trains running on the tracks for rush hour.

The result? Monumental delays, overcrowding and stressed straphangers, as Gothamist recounted.

Switches like the one responsible for this commuting chaos are especially vulnerable to issues like the one seen Monday, according to the MTA, which is conducting an internal investigation of the incident.

"Because they have to move back and forth so often, they're very prone to malfunction" MTA spokesperson Amanda Kwan told Patch. "They have to move so much."

The MTA has boosted its efforts conducting proactive maintenance work on these switches since the launch of the Subway Action Plan in 2017, according to Kwan.

Still, it wasn't enough to save that single switch from sending the subways into a stupor.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Forest Hills