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Smoking Manholes Cause Brooklyn Subway Trouble

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Jun 8, 2008 9:47 pm US/Eastern

Smoking Manholes Cause Brooklyn Subway Trouble

NEW YORK (AP) ―

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Two smoking electric-utility manholes snarled subway service in a swath of Brooklyn on Sunday, shutting down all or part of some subway lines and causing major delays on others, officials said.

It wasn't clear whether Sunday's sweltering weather and spates of thunderstorms factored in the problems, Consolidated Edison spokeswoman Elizabeth Clark said.

The early evening outages initially shut down the entire G line, which runs between parts of Brooklyn and Queens, and parts of the F and 4 lines, NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said. All were running again within about two hours, though with delays and limited service in some places. The 2 and 3 lines also were delayed.

The outages affected the subway's signal system, which tells train conductors how and how fast to proceed, Fleuranges said. He said no passengers were stuck on the subways, as all trains were able to move—if slowly—and had lights and air conditioning throughout the disruption.

About 50 homes and businesses also lost power because of one manhole fire, which happened around 5:45 p.m. in the Boerum Hill neighborhood, Clark said. She said the other smoking manhole, about a mile away in the Flatbush area, knocked out power to about 300 customers.

The utility was working to restore power, she said. In the meantime, portable generators were powering the subway signals that had been affected, Fleuranges said.

Con Edison crews were investigating whether a smoking manhole was also to blame for a power outage that affected about 150 customers in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, Clark said.