NYC Subway Faced Record Delays This Summer

By Y.M. Lowy

The New York City subway has been having a tough summer. According to new numbers from the MTA, there were 138 major incidents in June and July that delayed at least 50 trains at a time. That’s the most for those months since 2018, when the subway system was declared in a state of emergency by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Most of the delays were caused by old equipment, like broken electrical systems and signals that control when trains can move. 

Efforts to modernize the subway remain behind schedule. Signal upgrade projects are running anywhere from nine months to three years late, while the MTA’s new five-year construction plan was delayed for months earlier this year due to funding negotiations in Albany.