Human error to blame for metro power failure

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NEW YORK An investigation has found human error behind a power outage that crippled metro service last month, Governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday.

The August 29 blackout affected all numbered lines of the MTA as well as the L train.

“On the night of Sunday, August 29, the service for metro users suddenly and unexpectedly closed, and immediately after the disruption, I asked the MTA to investigate the cause. The teams worked quickly to identify the source of the problem and recommend improvements. I am leading mitigation measures to ensure runners are never interrupted by these causes again, ”Hochul said in a statement Friday.

The governor’s office said reports had revealed that the power outage at New York City’s rail transportation control center was the result of a manually activated power-off switch on one of the distribution units. building electricity.

They went on to say that preliminary indications suggest the emergency push button may have been accidentally pressed because it was missing a plastic shield that would normally prevent it from being accidentally touched. Andrew Albert, president of the New York City Transit Riders Council, later confirmed to NY1 that the emergency switch was the cause of the outage.

“It is fortunate that this did not happen during rush hour, it does not lessen the embarrassment of the thousands of people who have been struck on the trains. But I think the MTA has learned a lot from this misstep, Albert said. I don’t believe this is going to happen again. Obviously we are going to take the necessary precautions to make the emergency switches fail safe, reintroduce the staff to how it should work and have a backup. absolute in the future. “

The governor’s office said the failure to restore power for more than an hour appeared to have been “the result of flaws in internal organization and process.” MTA interim chairman Janno Lieber said the transit agency will take action to prevent this from happening again.

The outage affected service on more than 80 trains and led to the evacuation of around 550 passengers from the system, according to the MTA.

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