Getting stuck underground on the subway? Every New Yorker’s nightmare.
Sure, it happens pretty frequently for most of the city’s 3.8 million daily commuters, but usually only for 30 seconds or a minute, maybe two at most. But on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 5:40 p.m., just after I hopped on the F train at Bergen Street in Brooklyn to go back to Manhattan to have dinner with my sister, it happened. A total shutdown.
This shutdown felt different than the usual pause in service. The overhead lights stayed on, but everything else went quiet — weirdly quiet — like no electricity or air was circulating in the car or tunnel.
Turns out, there wasn’t.
Soon the conductor came on overhead and told us all, “The power is out on the third rail. I’m not sure what happens next, but I’ll keep you posted.”
Groans, sighs, and the usual eye-rolling ensued, but most everyone assumed the…
