The sun., 1917-11-05
TIES UP
TWO SUBWAYS
OVER 5 HOURS
Bursting Of 36 Inch Water
Main in Lafayette Street
Is Cause.
IRATE PASSENGERS WAIT
New Aqueduct Pressure Is
Blamed for Hating B. r. T.
and Interborough Trains.

A thkty-,ix inch water main burst
with a rear In front OF ~ Lafayette
street early yesterday morning and the
torrent which flowed into the street
and swas,led down into the subways
OF the Interborough and Brooklyn
systems locally for more than eight
hours. The break came at Lao o'cloch
and II va. nearly II o'clock before
service was resumed In the Inter-
borough. In the h. Il. r. subway
trains did not run between Chambers
street and Brooklyn all Cay.
As the inevitable sequel. New York
went through its usual uncomfortable
experience OF being cuffed about bllndly
from subway pillar TO elevated post
and back to surface line. Nobody
in uniform in either borough knew
anything about trains. except what
was wrong. At many stations
messengers stood on platforms
for long time waiting for trains that
never came, and in many instances they
boarded trains which. according to in
formation given by guards and station
stations where they could transfer to
shuttle trains but which rarely did
All day the elevated and surface lines
In the district affected by the break
were crowded, with but few extra trains
and cars TO handle the overflow.
Due to Aqueduct Pressure.
The tremendously increased pressure
on the mains. due to the opening Of
the Catskill aqueduct system, Is be-
lieved to have been the cause OF the
break. When that great head Of water.
carried from the mountains far to the
north through solid rock tunnels deep
underground. is released into the iron
mains of the city it comes in with a
force that has proved a severe strain
on the old system.
column Of water shot six feet into
the air. tearing aside the pavement and
hurting bits OF concrete upward az II
they were chips. 1t cascaded over
Lafayette street, flowed down to the
hollow in which the Criminal Courts
Building sits rushed down side streets
carrying a deposit OF mud and silt, and
tnen plunged down gratngs into the two
subway systems. The break was at
the top of a little hill and the natural
line of flow in all directions was that In
which the water could do the most dam
age to transportation.
The InterborouEh subway at Canal
street, which is the low level OF the line
in that section. was soon filed to dspt'
Of more than four feet. the water alnos,
washing over the station platform
Traffic had stopped when tho food nrst
reached the third rail and short cir
"uited It only twenty minutes after the
break occurred. Trains quickly pilea
up In both directions and the entire
system was para'yzed until an emer-
gency and shuttle service was put into
operation
Emergency Cali for 500 Men.
The r. II, T. Jared no better for the
water ran down inta centre street and
poured through the gratings. backing
up until II had reached all through thu
complicated switching facilities tina,
connect the Fourth avenue line with
the Municipal Building The Fourth
and Madison avenue surface cars were
also affected by the hood which illed
the trolley slot, md they did no. resume
until the water had been turned of and
the surrounding streets emerged from
their bath. But although most Of th'
water soon left tine streets II found 4
! reservoir in the subways.
Men from the subway emergency
crews. the Water Department. the Blu
reau OF Highways. the New York Edi
son Company. the Fire Department ant
the Public Service Commission fockeC
TO the scene in scores. until nearly 5o'
workmen under the skilled guidance o
engineers were 'aboring 20 harness III,
Niagara being turned loose on New
York. They found some difficulty il
locating the proper gates and il was no
until 3:25 y. VI. that they were CLOSED
and the great fountain gurgied ant
died down
BY that time the immediate neighbor
hood bore a close resemblance to tn
( swamp which once was there. Mel
splashed about in the water bearinl
lanterns and trying TO get their ap
paratus in shape TO tackle the long jo
Of pumping out the flooded transporta
ton arteries. 1t was tremendou
task. The marlborough soon got tw
large pumps capable OF spouting 1000
gallons minute into action at Cana
street and the Edison company put tw
gasolene pumps AT work spilllng tn
water out through four inch pipes. tn
Fire Department helped with tw
engines
Tangled Trafac Schedules.
In the meantime the subway official
went at the task OF Strengthening ou
their tangled schedules. The r. r. I
could do nothing to connect UP their lin
until the water was abated. but IN
Interborough managed to get servic
south as far as Fourteenth street and
shuttle service down as far as Sprin
street. South Of the Brooklyn Brids
shuttle service was kept up wit
Brooklyn. Several trains were stale
at Canal street when the power died an
they were showed up to Spring street.
Fortunately the accident was lai
enough at night 80 that the congestio
was not so bad as II would have bee
during the day. but when the Sunda
morning trafhc began to move III
trains were badly delayed. Althoug
orders were sent out 2 ticket agents
tell passengers that the road was tie
M south OF Fourteenth street few I
I them continued to do 40 when the tran
got heavy. and as a result people foun
themselves tied up In trains that barrel
crawled south Of Grand Central. will
out being able to fnd out the reason ft
the delay.
In one express train that made fafrl
good time until Grand Central WI
. reached none OF the passengers ri
r parently had been told that anythir
' was the matter with tho system and
was not until guard was found wi