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Video: Subway Track Explosion Sparked By Garbage Can
By
John Del Signore
Published May 4, 2015
Modified May 4, 2015
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 4, 2015
Modified May 4, 2015
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Video uploaded to YouTube last night shows an MTA worker trying to remove a garbage can from the subway tracks with a piece of wood and triggering a dramatic explosion.
According to the individual who uploaded the video, "A metal object close to [the third rail] is all that is needed to create a massive spark. The 'Conquestors' vandal group threw a garbage can on the tracks, and the train operator got shocked trying to take it off the tracks."
The MTA has not yet said whether the worker was injured, but a second video appears to show the same MTA worker on the platform with the charred garbage can in hand.
Subway Track Explosionby Gothamist
An MTA spokesman said the incident is under investigation. Multiple tipsters said the explosion occurred on the 6 line at the Cypress Avenue station in the Bronx, but it's unclear who is responsible.
Last month, a Brooklyn teen who is the son of an MTA worker was arrested for allegedly placing a metal railsign across the subway tracks at Nostrand Avenue, causing a similar explosion. The suspect, Keyshawn Brown, is allegedly part of a group of adolescent subway vandals who call themselves the "Conquestors"—they reportedly had access to train keys that let them enter unoccupied train operators' cabs.
UPDATE: The MTA and a representative of the Transit Workers Union say the worker was not injuried. "It looked worse than it was," the union rep tells us. "He wasn't really hurt."
Tagged
subway
subway conquestors
subway explosion
third rail
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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