F Train | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side

Man Killed in East Broadway Station After Being Struck by F Train

File photo.

A man was struck and killed by a train earlier today after falling onto the tracks at the East Broadway station.

It happened shortly after 3 p.m. on the F Train tracks. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene, shortly after emergency crews arrived.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the man ended up on the tracks. As of a few minutes ago, F trains were still bypassing the East Broadway station.

F Train Out of Service For One More Weekend, Including Monday (President’s Day)

Here’s a reminder about this weekend’s F Train shutdown. Once again, there will be no service at the East Broadway, Delancey Street and 2nd Avenue stations from 10:30 p.m. tonight through 5 a.m. on Tuesday. The service interruption covers the President’s Day holiday on Monday.

Shuttle bus service is available to Broadway/Lafayette and West 4th streets. Buses are available at 1st Avenue/East Houston Street, Delancey/Essex Street and and Essex Street at Straus Square.

This is the last of three weekends of “Fastrack” repairs on the F line (also the D line). The work includes the replacement of eight switches, installation of 2,400 feet of feeder conduit and 25,000 feet of cable, and installation of six new signals.

More details here. And here’s info about the D Train shutdown.

MTA Repairs Mean No Late Night F Train Service This Week

File photo.

The MTA’s “Fastrack” repairs will interrupt service on the F train this week during the late night hours.

Through Friday, there will be no service between Broadway-Lafayette Street and York Street in Brooklyn from 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. F trains will be rerouted on the A line between West 4th Street and the Jay Street-MetroTech station. The MTA suggests taking the D and J trains while the work is taking place. Shuttle buse service will also be available at 2nd Avenue and Delancey Street.

Check out MTA website for more details.

Man Struck, Killed By F Train in East Broadway Station (Updated)

File photo.

A man was struck and killed this morning by a northbound F train in the East Broadway station. It happened at about 9:30 a.m.

The victim, who has not yet been identified, was declared dead on the scene.

The MTA rerouted F trains over the A line between West Fourth Street-Washington Square and Jay Street-MetroTech.

Delays should be expected on the A, C, E, F and G lines.

We’ll have more detail as they become available.

UPDATE 4:10 p.m. Police sources told the Post that the victim might have been a “passenger who was between two train cars.” The operator of the train didn’t see what happened and police said there were no witnesses. NY1 reported the man was 38 years old.

Fastrack on the F Train This Week: No Overnight Service on the Lower East Side

Delancey Drama: Man Saved From F Train After Fall

Delancey Street subway station.

The Daily News has the story today of a harrowing ordeal for a commuter who fell onto the F train tracks at Delancey Street. It happened yesterday morning at around 8:30. A man in his early 20’s apparently suffered a seizure and came crashing down on the Brooklyn-bound F train tacks.

Danny Hay, a Lower East Side resident and MTA employee, was on his way to work when the accident happened. “It was a loud slam. I looked down and saw a young man in his 20s,” he told the News. “He looked unconscious.” Hay said he got on his radio to call for help but no one answered. He then tried to get an MTA attendant to cut the power, but a train continued to barrel toward the victim and two men who’d jumped on the tracks to help.

Finally Hay began flashing his lights across the tracks and the train came to a stop just in time. Paramedics soon arrived to care for the young man, while the “good samaritans” disappeared and Hay went off to work.

F Train Passenger Stabbed at Essex Street Saturday Night

A man was stabbed aboard an F train at Essex Street late Saturday night, the Post reports. The incident happened around 4:20 a.m.

Police say there are two suspects. Officers boarded the train in Brooklyn, at Church Avenue, but did not find the men.

The victim was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he was treated for the stab wound and released. Police did not release his name.

Woman Struck By F Train at Delancey Street This Morning

The stairways to the downtown F train was blocked off this morning following the incident.

A woman was struck by a Brooklyn-bound F train this morning at the Delancey Street station. She was treated by paramedics at the scene before being transported to New York Hopsital in stable condition. The incident happened at around 7:15.

Trains were being diverted to the A line for a short time but the MTA reports that normal service has resumed with delays.

More to come…

Man Shot in the Back Near Rutgers Houses (Updated 5:39 p.m.)

Police gather in front of Rutgers Houses following shooting. Photo: WNBC.

At about 3 o’clock this afternoon there was a shooting outside the subway station on Rutgers Street, near Madison. The victim, who was hit in the back, was taken to New York Downtown Hospital. His injuries are not believed to be life threatening. According to WNBC, at least two separate crime scenes were established. WABC reported that the MTA had received information about an armed man on an F train at the station, but an initial search did not turn up a suspect. Tonight police are still looking for the gunman.

UPDATE 5:39 p.m. More information about this incident. Police believe the shooting did not happen in front of the subway station but at 38 Rutgers Street, which is part of the Rutgers public housing complex. Police have spoken with the victim, and they have reason to believe he knew the shooter, but at the moment, investigators do not have a name or a description. The victim is in his mid-30’s.

Follow-up: East Broadway Train Incident

F Train entrance, Rutgers Street and East Broadway.

We have received a number of emails from readers seeking more information about the incident that happened on Tuesday afternoon in the East Broadway train station. As previously reported, a person was struck by an F train and transported to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition.

A lot of people obviously saw what happened, and many others have been left to guess about the circumstances behind the traumatic episode. Here’s what we can add. The victim remains hospitalized today with very serious injuries. It is clear that the man, 21 years old, jumped in front of the train in an intentional effort to harm himself.

Sources tell The Lo-Down the man has a long history of serious mental illness and had received services from a number of social service and medical institutions on the Lower East Side.

Emergency teams appeared on the scene moments after the accident happened, around 2 p.m. on Tuesday. It took them about a half hour to get the man off the tracks and into an ambulance.

Person Struck by F Train at East Broadway Station

F Train entrance, Rutgers Street and East Broadway.

Ar about 2 o’clock this afternoon, emergency crews rushed to the East Broadway subway station, where a man was struck by an F Train. It took them about a half hour to get the victim off the tracks and transport him to Bellevue Hospital. According to the MTA, the F is being re-routed on the A line. We’ll let you know when there’s more info about the victim and the circumstances behind the accident.

UPDATE: 3:57pm – We’ve learned that normal service has resumed on the Manhattan bound F train. Expect residual delays and check www.mta.info for updates.

Travel Alert: Overnight Train Shutdown Feb. 27-March 2

It doesn’t happen for another week, but this is going to be a big inconvenience for a lot of people, so here’s an early head’s up about a total overnight shutdown of subway service to/from the Lower East Side. As part of the MTA’s new “Fastrack” program, the B, D, F and M trains will be offline 10 p.m.-5 a.m. from February 27 to March 2. The idea behind Fastrack is to to “inspect, maintain, and upgrade stations, tracks and signals in less time, at less cost.” During the outage there will be shuttle bus service between Bleecker Street to/from the Grand Street B/D station.

(UPDATED) Woman Hit By F Train at Delancey/Essex Stop

Photo via soulkat's Twitter feed.

We’ve received several eyewitness reports about police officers and firefighters responding to an incident at the Delancey/Essex MTA station around 8 p.m. yesterday. ANIMAL reported shortly after 9 p.m. that a female passenger fell or jumped from the platform onto the tracks in front of an oncoming Brooklyn-bound F train:

Passengers were quickly shooed off the subway and the FDNY was first on the scene. The conductor was reportedly overheard telling her, “Just don’t move, okay?” and she responded, “Okay.”

We are seeking information about the woman’s condition and will keep you posted.

Other F trains were temporarily rerouted and resumed normal service about an hour after the incident, MTA officials reported.

UPDATE (8:52 a.m.): A spokesman for the FDNY tells us the victim was pulled from the tracks at 8:10 p.m., about 15 minutes after the first 911 call. She was alive but unconscious and was taken to Bellevue Hospital.

MTA Agrees to Improve Service on L, But Not the F Train

Back in July, State Senator Daniel Squadron asked the MTA to undertake comprehensive studies of weekend service on the L and F trains. He said schedules were obviously in need of adjustment to account for huge increases in demand in Williamsburg and the Lower East Side.

Today, the senator announced the MTA has agreed to add more trains on the L line, beginning sometime next year. Unfortunately the LES is not quite so fortunate. According to a news release from Squadron’s office, the transit agency “concluded that a weekend service increase on the F train is not possible at this time.”

In 2009, the MTA conducted a study of the F Line, at Squadron’s request, and agreed to make a variety of service improvements based on what they learned from that survey.

Squadron Asks MTA to Study Weekend F Train Service

State Snator Daniel Squadron. File photo.

State Senator Daniel Squadron is calling on the MTA to study passenger needs on the F and L trains, with an eye towards improving weekend service. As the New York Times noted in a story published yesterday, some nightlife-centric neighborhoods have seen a huge increase in weekend ridership, but schedules have not kept pace.

In a letter dated July 1 to MTA President Thomas Prendergast, Squadron asked for a review of both the F on the Lower East Side and the L in Williamsburg. The letter reads, in part:

…at some stations on the L and F lines weekend ridership is as high – or higher than – weekday ridership. Yet the trains’ schedules do not account for the higher weekend usage. I would also like to request that the MTA review weekend ridership on the L in Williamsburg and the F in the Lower East Side, with the goal of creating a schedule that is more reflective of ridership patterns. This would not just make the subway more convenient for riders. By drawing weekend visitors to these neighborhoods underground and off of surface transit, it would also improve quality of life in these areas.

Squadron is also asking the MTA to begin a comprehensive review of the L line in Brooklyn. He specifically mentioned the Bedford Avenue station, which becomes more inundated every year — but has gotten progressively worse as more people have moved into those gleaming new residential towers lining the East River.

In 2009, the MTA conducted a similar study of the F Line, at Squadron’s request, and agreed to make a variety of service improvements based on what they learned from that survey.