Dozens of Subway Windows Are Smashed in $500,000 Vandalism Spree

M.T.A. officials said windows were broken on 45 trains, disrupting commutes for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.



M.T.A. officials said dozens of train windows were smashed late Tuesday and Wednesday. José A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York Times

By Ana Ley
Sept. 13, 2023

Vandals smashed dozens of train windows along several subway lines, causing half a million dollars in damage and disrupting the commutes of hundreds of thousands of passengers on Wednesday. ... The vandalism began about 12:55 a.m. on Tuesday and continued until 6 a.m. Wednesday along several subway lines, according to the Police Department. One of those, the W line, remained shut down Wednesday until after 5 p.m. The D, N, Q and R lines were also affected, but service along those lines has since been restored. ... The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said 97 windows were broken across 45 trains. By 11 a.m. on Wednesday, crews had fixed 25 of the trains. M.T.A. officials estimated the costs of the damage at about $500,000.

Richard Davey, the president of New York City Transit, said during a news conference on Wednesday that the windows had been broken by “criminals.” He said that he was outraged because of the strain the vandalism was placing on the city during a busy period of travel with students recently back in school. ... Investigators are reviewing footage from stations along the lines and also from train yards. ... “We will find you,” Mr. Davey said. “We have your picture. I have no doubt we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Officials said the damage was done from inside the subway cars. An M.T.A. official said that the smashing occurred while the trains were moving along the N, W, Q, B, D and F lines, with vandals targeting the rear of the trains. Most of the damaged trains originated in the Coney Island yard in Brooklyn, though others were based in the Bronx and in Queens.

Mr. Davey said that crews were removing windows from older trains that had been in storage in order to replace the ones that had been broken. ... The vandalism was reminiscent of a spate of incidents in early 2020, when about 100 windows along the 7 line were shattered over two months. ... During Wednesday’s news conference, Mr. Davey praised the M.T.A.’s plan to install two security cameras on every subway car and said that the technology will help officials arrest people who commit vandalism.

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SUBWAY

Working on Broken Glass: Shattered Screens Everywhere Belie Official MTA Stats

Cracked windows and LCD displays are the number two vandalism issue underground after graffiti, but the agency is mum on costs and its data doesn’t seem to reflect what New Yorkers are seeing around them.

BY JOSE MARTINEZ APR 18, 2023, 5:00AM EDT

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