A water main in Times Square broke early this morning and sent 1.8 million gallons of water flooding into the New York City subway system and nearby streets, pausing services that impacted approximately 300,000 customers and led to road closures, officials said at a news conference.
This photo, provided by MTA New York City Transit, shows water from a water main break in New York's ... [+]
A water main that is over 120 years old broke in Times Square around 3 a.m. EST Tuesday, pausing and altering services along the 1, 2 and 3 line trains for nearly six hours and closing the intersection of 40th Street and Seventh Avenue as personnel worked to pump water from the subway’s tracks and search for the broken portion of the pipe.
Richard Davey, the president of NYC Transit, approximates that 300,000 customers use the 1,2 and 3 train lines on a typical rush hour morning.
Davey says most of the water (1 million gallons) was pumped out by the transit system’s normal pump rooms, while mobile pumps were used to remove up to 800,000 gallons of water, and 150 subway employees turned out to assist with the cleaning.
Davey said, “It took about 90 minutes for that water to be shut off and, in any instance, a minute matters, so we’ll obviously work with them to think about how we can do a better job, how they can do a better job to ensure that this impact doesn’t impact our customers as severely as it did today.”
The crew dug a hole near the intersection of 40th Street and Seventh Avenue to get to the broken ... [+]
Services along the 1, 2 and 3 train lines were paused for nearly six hours, but officials say they ... [+]
Richard Davey, the president of NYC Transit, said over 150 subway workers came in this morning to ... [+]
The broken water main sent water flooding into the New York City subway system. (Marc A. Hermann / ... [+]