1 trains derail near Upper West Side subway station: MTA

Two 1 trains derailed on Thursday afternoon after bumping into each other at a slow speed near the 96th Street subway station on the Upper West Side, officials said, resulting in 24 injuries, though none of them appeared to be life-threatening.

“Fortunately, no one was seriously injured,” Deputy Assistant Chief of EMS Operations Ian Swords said during a press briefing on Thursday evening. “The injuries that were sustained were consistent with a low-speed train derailment and all of those patients have been moved to area hospitals.”

Transit officials said nearly 300 people were on one of the trains when they collided around 3 p.m., while the other was undergoing repairs after being vandalized, New York City Transit President Richard Davey said. Several emergency cords had been pulled inside that train, which four MTA employees were working to reset at the time of the incident, Davey said.

“Thankfully, there were no serious injuries,” Davey said. “Obviously, two trains should not be bumping into one another. We are going to get to the bottom of that.”

NYPD Chief of Transit Michael M. Kemper said two police officers assigned to the 96th Street station were notified of the derailment within seconds of the incident. The officers found the two trains on the northbound side of the platform halfway into the tunnel exiting the station.

“No day is usual, being a cop,” he said. “Who could have thought of this?”

Davey described the scene as “messy” and said crews would be working through the night to try and restore full service by the morning commute. He advised riders who use the 1, 2 and 3 lines to check with the MTA to determine the status of the line.

“I expect we’ll be out there all night,” he said. “My hope is we will have service restored [Friday] for rush hour, but I cannot guarantee…