An Enormous Drill Nearly Impaled a Subway Car Full of Passengers
An F Train was nearly bored into by a 10-inch-wide drill bit yesterday while traveling under an East Side Access construction site in Queens. There were roughly 800 passengers inside, and though the bit scraped the body of the train and shattered several windows, no one was injured.
The accident occurred at around 11:45 a.m. near the 21st Street-Queensbridge Station. MTA Spokesman Kevin Ortiz told the New York Daily News an employee of Griffin Dewatering New England, Inc, a contractor, had been operating the drill to expand a well.
An MTA source familiar with the work said the contractor was at fault. "Some people don't follow instructions; they drilled deeper than they were supposed to."
And a source told the New York Post:
"Somebody made a mistake; maybe a surveyor or a field engineer," said a source. "They drilled into the street but didn't realize they were right over the F train tunnel. They weren't supposed to be in that spot."
According to the Post, the train's operator triggered the emergency brake after hearing a "thundering noise." The drill bit extended the entire height of the tunnel, missing the roof of the train by inches. Passengers evacuated by walking through a second train back to the station platform.
