New York public transport disrupted by Hurricane Sandy

Date: 31/10/2012

The worst damage ever done to the New York subway system has occurred due to Hurricane Sandy, making the convenient form of permanent transport unusable.

According to Joseph Lhota, Head of the (MTA) Metropolitan Transit Authority, the 108-year-old subway has never been subject to such conditions.

Flooding is widespread within the tunnels where the trains run and a large amount of electrical equipment will need to be dried out and cleaned before services can resume.

Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, described the storm as perhaps the worst that the city has ever experienced, saying that he did not know how long it would take for the subway network to re-open.

He went on to say that he hoped that buses would be able to start functioning again soon and therefore start to transport people around New York.

This has in fact started to happen along with a limited service on the subway and some commuter rail services on Metro North and the Long Island Rail Road.

Fares are being waived on Thursday and Friday throughout the whole public transport network, where it is running.

There is a good chance that it will be two or three days before power is fully returned to the city and the subway is not the only transport hub which has been affected.

All three of New York’s airports - John F Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia - are now opening on a reduced schedule.

Due to a seven-foot tidal surge the Path commuter train, which runs between New York and New Jersey, is expected to be closed for between seven and ten days.

Chris Christie, New Jersey Governor, said that the tide had carried some of the small goods cars which run on the railway up to the elevated sections of the New Jersey Turnpike.

It is thought that the cost of cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy will be around $30 to $40 billion (£18 billion to £24 billion).

This is significantly less than the $100 billion which was required after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

A state of emergency was also declared by President Barack Obama in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.