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Fallen debris in Brooklyn subway tunnel causes major delays
By
Olivia Ebertz
Published Nov 26, 2022
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Ben Von Klemperer/Shutterstock
By
Olivia Ebertz
Published Nov 26, 2022
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Service on the 2, 3, 4 and 5 subway lines was suspended between Brooklyn and Manhattan for three hours today after a piece of ceiling in a tunnel near Atlantic Avenue collapsed onto the tracks.
The collapse happened at 12:34 p.m., and trains resumed service at 3:22 p.m., the MTA confirmed.
No injuries were reported, but passengers were waiting for hours. Outside the stop at Atlantic Avenue, an NYCT worker, who gave his name as Joseph, was directing passengers to buses they could take while the trains were down.
“We're just trying to expedite people getting out of this location,” he said as a crowd formed around him.
“Where you trying to go? Winthrop?" he asked one passenger. "You need the 45, baby, you need to go across the street over there.”
The MTA has been doing renovations on that section of subway tunnel.
“These tunnels were originally built in 1908 and are in need of some attention,” the agency's website states.
MTA spokesperson Meghan Keegan did not use the word collapse in her statement on the incident.
“A superficial layer of plaster was dislodged from a two-by-three foot section of tunnel ceiling,” Keegan wrote in an email.
On the same line in 2018, just three stops away at Borough Hall, a piece of the ceiling collapsed at the stop while passengers were waiting.
Renee Busby was trying to help her daughter get from Manhattan to Brooklyn amid all the delays this afternoon.
“It’s a little hectic and annoying, but that’s the MTA for you,” she said.
Olivia Ebertz
Olivia is a former WNYC and Gothamist assistant producer.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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