November 20, 1997: A Jamaica-bound R train rear-ends a G train in a tunnel near the Steinway Street station in Long Island City, Queens. There were no serious injuries were reported among the approximately 20 victims, who mainly suffered minor head and neck injuries. The cars, which were estimated traveling at about 10 miles per hour at the time of the collision, suffered only limited damage.

July 14, 1997: Eleven days after a Queens-bound A train derailed in Harlem, a #2 train derailed just after departing the President Street station in Crown Heights, Brooklyn about 1:25 am. Service was shut down on the #2 between Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue and on the #4 from Franklin Avenue to New Lots Avenue. Of the 120 people on the train, three were injured.

July 3, 1997: At 10:20 pm a Queens-bound A train derails under St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, just north of the 135th Street Station as it is going over a switch. Mayor Giuliani reports: "It's an absolute miracle no one was killed or seriously injured. What I saw was unbelievable. The last car as smashed in half, just ripped apart." 15 people were injured and service on the A and D was terminated at 59th Street and C service suspended entirely. The Transit Authority was forced to run shuttle trains on the D from 205th to 161st Street in the Bronx, and on the A from 207th Street to 168th Street, in conjunction with shuttle bus service.

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  Unionism Note: The circumstances that surround this accident bear some striking similarities to the accident that took place on August 15, 1994 (see below). Again the last car was derailed when a switch moved under the last car. However, in this case an innocent man, a signal maintainer, was accused of causing the accident. The Transit Authority said that he must have been responsible for activating a mechanism from the tracks because there was no other way that the switch could have been activated. A close look at the August 15, 1994 accident clearly shows another case of a foolproof safety mechanism that failed "Someone in a control tower mistakenly activated a switch to send the train from the local to the express track, while the train was passing over it, and a mechanism designed to prevent that from happening failed". Did anybody look into these similarities, or did the Transit Authority decide that their failure to take appropriate action to correct the problems surrounding the cause of the first accident would hold them criminally negligent in preventing a reoccurrence? In a final hearing on this case, a Transit Authority Foreman confessed that he deliberately falsified information in order to convict an innocent signal maintainer of criminal negligence. He said that he was forced to do this by a Transit Authority manager, he proceeded to name the manager. Strangely enough, in spite of the foregoing disclosure, the manager responsible for this criminal activity was subsequently promoted. The manager of this web site is in the process of asking the department of Justice to conduct a criminal investigation.

August 13, 1996: A Brooklyn-bound D train of R-68s derailed while it was pulling out of the DeKalb Avenue station in Brooklyn. There were no injuries among the 350 passengers. It has not been determined if track work in the area of the derailment caused the incident. This was the first derailment of 1996, and the seventh since 1991.

August 22, 1995: 18 people were injured when a 6 train bypassed a red signal and struck another train stopped at Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station, New York state investigators said.

June 5, 1995: A Manhattan-bound J train driven by a motorman on his final run of an overnight shift slammed into the rear of a M train stopped on the Williamsburg Bridge, killing the motorman, injuring more than 50 passengers. Investigators conclude that the J train ran a red light at high speed, and that the spacing of signals and poor performance of the trains brakes contributed to the crash.

Feb. 9, 1995: An M train carrying no passengers smashes into a Manhattan bound B train near the Ninth Ave. station in Brooklyn. The motorman and 6 people aboard the B train suffered minor injuries. Investigators blame the motorman of the M train, who intentionally "keyed by" a red light - a procedure that allows him to bypass it - before accelerating around a sharp curve and into the B train.

Dec. 21, 1994: Edward Leary explodes homemade bomb that sent a fireball whooshing through a subway car, injuring himself and 47 others. The crude bomb went off while the subway train was parked in a station.

Sept. 28, 1994: A work train rear-ended another work train on the IRT line at Graham Ave. in Brooklyn. Investigators determined that the motorman, who had worked 16 hours straight in violation of Transit Authority regulations, passed two stop signals.

Aug. 15, 1994: 11 people are injured when the last car of a southbound B train derails near Ninth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and slams into a tunnel wall. Someone in a control tower mistakenly activated a switch to send the train from the local to the express track, while the train was passing over it, and a mechanism designed to prevent that from happening failed.

Oct. 7, 1993: 45 people are injured when a Manhattan-bound L train rear ends another L train at the Graham Ave. station in Brooklyn. Officials find that the motorman of the rear train intentionally "keyed by" a red light.

Aug. 28, 1991: Five people are killed and more than 200 injured when a southbound No. 4 train derails going over a switch just north of Union Square. Service on the Lexington Avenue IRT, was disrupted for six days as transit workers toiled around the clock to clean up the wreckage. The motorman, Robert Ray, who was drunk and going more than 40 mph where the speed limit was 10 mph, is later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison. It was the worst subway accident in 63 years.

Dec. 28, 1990: Electrical fire in tunnel near Clark Street, Brooklyn kills two and injures 188.

July 26, 1990: 36 people are injured when a B train rear-ends an M train in Borough Park, Brooklyn.

July 3, 1981: A subway motorman was killed and more than 135 passengers were injured when an IRT train crashed into the rear of a train stopped in a Brooklyn tunnel.

Aug. 28, 1973: A 20 foot long chunk of concrete hit the first car of a Queens bound 7 train at about 4:50 PM. The collapse of the tunnel arch on the train near First Ave and 42nd St. killed 1, injured 18. The one fatality was a man who suffered a heart attack in the 115 degree heat of the tunnel.

Aug. 1, 1970: Tunnel fire near Bowling Green kills 1, injures 50. The one death occurred when a woman, who returned to the train to retrieve her purse, died of smoke inhalation.

July 17, 1970: An Manhattan bound E train rammed a halted A train at the Hoyt-Schremerhorn station (Brooklyn), injuring 37.

May 20, 1970: An empty IND train being taken out of service for defective brakes crashes into a GG local at Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, killing two and injuring 71. The motorman, conductor, and inspector were held responsible by an inquiry.

Feb. 27, 1970: An IRT train hit a bumper at the Pelham Bay Park station (Bronx), injuring 7. An inquiry found that the train apparently came into the station too fast.

Dec. 29, 1969: A southbound IRT train derails near east 180th St. in the Bronx, injuring 48. An inquiry found that the motorman misread a signal and failed to slow his train.

Aug. 27, 1938: IRT collision at 116th Street kills 2, injures 51.

Aug. 24, 1928: Derailment in Times Square kills 16, injures 100.

Aug. 6, 1927: Two bombs explode, one in the 28th St IRT (Lex Line) station and the 28th St (B'way) BMT station. "[The bombs] injured many persons, one of them it was believed, fatally." (NYT 8/6/1927)

Nov. 1, 1918: A dispatcher, filling in for striking motormen, loses control and 97 are killed, with 200 injured. This is Malbone Street Incident, the worst accident in New York City Subway history. The one day strike by the BRT workers was settled at about 2 AM the next day.

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