Subway service restored after Upper West Side crash

Subway service was fully restored late Saturday night, two days after a pair of trains collided and derailed on the Upper West Side.

MTA officials said crews worked around the clock to make repairs after two trains on the 1 line near 96th Street bumped into each other at a slow speed around 3 p.m. Thursday. The incident disrupted service on the 1, 2, and 3 lines, and sparked delays on the 4 and 5 lines as trains were rerouted in Manhattan.

One of the trains was empty and was being pulled from service after vandals pulled its emergency brakes. The other carried around 300 passengers, officials said.

Authorities reported 24 people were injured in the crash, but transit officials said none of them were serious or life threatening.

The incident prompted an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

MTA officials said transit workers removed the two trains from the subway tunnel, repaired the tracks damaged by the crash and completed a safety inspection of the area.

“With full service being restored, hundreds of thousands of riders on the west side of Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn will again be able to ride the ​​​1, 2, 3 lines to get to work, school, and to see friends and loved ones,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul in a statement Saturday evening.

The last subway derailment with passengers on board was in September 2020, when a train jumped the tracks after a vandal threw debris onto the rails at the 14th Street station on the A, C and E lines.