Stranded In Ozone Park Overnight
Straphangers on board a subway train that became stranded between the Rockaway Boulevard and Aqueduct Racetrack stations in Ozone Park during the December 2010 blizzard have filed suit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Tuesday, Dec. 27, the Associated Press reported.
According to the AP, the A train, filled with 500 passengers, was idled between the two stations during the night of Dec. 26, 2010, when the city was hit with over two feet of snow, along with strong winds that brought the city to a screeching halt.
The passengers were reportedly stranded for between six and eight hours, with passengers huddling together to stay warm and others having to go to the bathroom between train cars.
The suit, filed in the Queens branch of the State Supreme Court, lists 22 of the passengers as plaintiffs, and seeks unspecified damages stemming from the incident.
According to the AP, the passengers and their attorney decided to file suit after a year of meetings with the MTA.
Thomas Prendergast, the president of the MTA’s NYC Transit division, admitted to the City Council at a Dec. 6 hearing that the agency had lost track of the train, and called it “inexcusable,” according to various news reports.
“After a harsh blizzard in December 2010, MTA agencies improved customer communication practices during storms, instituted new winter weather response procedures and upgraded storm-fighting equipment,”
–SEE TRAIN ON PG. 26- the agency said in a statement as part of a year-round review. “The MTA has appointed an emergency coordinator to facilitate MTA-wide storm response coordination and information sharing and has improved procedures to deliver more detailed and reliable status information on the MTA’s website.”
According to the Comptroller’s Office, the city has settled 620 claims for personal injury and injuries to property due to the blizzard, totaling over $1.8 million in damages. Queens County had the highest percentage of claims (224 claims, 36.1 percent of the total amount) and second highest percentage of payouts ($567,780, or 30.6 percent of the total). The largest settlement was for $45,000.
