Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Water Main Breaks On Upper West Side, Floods Subway Tracks
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 19, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 19, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A water main broke in Manhattan, on Central Park West between West 102nd and 103rd Streets on Sunday morning, causing subway service disruptions and street closures. UPDATE: The MTA has resumed service along the A, C, and D lines, as of 12:13 p.m. Check @NYCTSubway on Twitter for the latest details.
This is the second water main break in a week. The first was also on the Upper West Side, on Broadway near West 62nd Street: A 98-year-old water main broke early Monday morning.
The break was reported to the Department of Environmental Protection at around 7:30 a.m., DEP spokesman Ted Timbers said, with water being shut off about an hour later. Timbers said that about 80 customers are without water on the west side of Central Park West, between 101st and 103rd Streets, as repairs are ongoing. "Priority is to get water service restored to those customers as soon as is possible," he added.
"At approximately 7:50 a.m., New York City Transit crews were alerted to a water condition on the tracks and that a city-owned water main erupted at 103rd Street and Central Park West on the A, C, and D lines," NYC Transit Senior Vice President Sally Librera said in a statement. "Service was immediately suspended on the A, C, and D lines from 59 Street to 125 Street. The level of water rose above the third rail, making conditions dangerous to operate trains. Power was removed from all tracks south of 86 Street to north of 116 Street."
Librera described the agency's measures, noting that they immediately "deploy[ed] resources in the Infrastructure, Track and Signals Departments, as well as pumping equipment and supplies to the scene. Water flowed north to the 108th Street pump station where pumps activated and pushed water out to the city sewer system, but water inflow continued to exceed pumping capacity at the location."
The MTA will be "examining four stop machines, a substation at 99th Street, and all third rail cables," she said. Librera also pointed out this situation is entirely out of the MTA's control, "This is the second time this week our customers have been denied service for too lengthy a period because of a major city water main break that flooded our system. We hope this latest incident will spur quicker shut-off response times by the city and a review of its aging system in hopes of avoiding similar situations moving forward."
The January 13th water main break at Broadway and West 62nd Street, which resulted in 500,000 gallons of water flowing into the subways, took days to repair. Neighboring buildings and park garages are still undergoing clean-up measures. The Department of Environmental Protection has not explained the cause of that break, but did say that, overall, there have been more variability in seasonal temperatures that can stress pipes, telling the NY Times, "It used to be that it would get cold and it would stay cold in the winter, and you’d just have the early winter and late winter weather fluctuations. Now we’re seeing many more fluctuations during the winter season."
Update: Service along the A, C, and D lines is back, but expect delays:
Tagged
we the commuters
Upper West Side
water main
water main break
subway
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .