Fallen tree on tracks in Ditmas Park causes massive subway issues
The plan is to send a letter out to homeowners with trees that are at risk of falling on tracks in the future, which will list some of the different resources that can help them take care of it.
More Stories
Wednesday night's wind and rain caused major subway issues for commuters in Brooklyn after a tree fell across three subway tracks near the Beverley Road station in Ditmas Park around 6:30 a.m. Thursday.
"This year, we've had approximately 17 tree branches fall in such a way that we've had service delays in Brooklyn," said Lisa Schreibman, the MTA's acting senior vice president of subways. "This is a normal part of business, one we don't want to happen, but one we are prepared to deal with."
Even after the tree was cleared, there were delays on both the B and Q trains, which the MTA says get more than half a million riders combined every day.
B.J. Piel lives near by in Kensington, and called the situation "par for the course," since "you've got the trees that do the overhang the way they do here, with the storms that do come in, you're definitely going to see stuff like this."
While the MTA was able to get everything back up and running by the end of the day, it says it wants to try to get to the root of the problem.
The plan is to send a letter out to homeowners with trees that are at risk of falling on tracks in the future, which will list some of the different resources that can help them take care of it.
Schreibman says the thought process is that "the best way to make this not happen is to do preventative maintenance, people have trees, people sort of forget that trees are there almost, and we want to just remind people that we're your neighbors, and we're there to be helpful."
While most train riders that News 12 spoke with liked the idea of the letter, the opinions on how much it would actually help were split.
Piel was optimistic, saying "I think an owner is going take that just as seriously as if you have a tree that's overhanging a phone line, or an electrical line."
Meanwhile Brianna De La Cruz, who was taking the train to visit a friend, said "I feel like people ignore them. I feel like money-wise, they probably won't do it, or just be like it's been here for years, it's not really causing any issues."
The MTA says anyone can also call 511 if they need help with a tree, and they're happy to see what they can do.
