New York City subway train derails in Queens

Firefighters and paramedics converge

5/2/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK —A subway train derailed in a Queens tunnel today, but authorities said there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The express F train was bound for Manhattan and Brooklyn when it derailed at 10:40 a.m. about 1,200 feet from the 65th station in Woodside, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

 

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Dozens of firefighters and paramedics with stretchers converged on Broadway and 60th Street, where some later passengers calmly left the tunnel through a sidewalk exit. A few were treated on stretchers.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many passengers were on board. A rescue train had been sent.

New York City’s subway system is one of the largest public transportation systems in the world with an average of 5.5 million rides on weekdays. The F train runs through Queens, New York City’s largest borough, under the East River and down Manhattan, then bends back under the East River into Brooklyn.

Derailments are relatively rare in the subway system. The last major derailment was in August 1991, when a No. 4 train came off the tracks at Union Square. Five people were killed and more than 200 were injured. The motorman, who was drunk at the time of the accident, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison.