Just when you finally managed to stop pondering all of the things that could go wrong when riding the NYC Subway, it turns out that the computer system that controls the trains crashed for a few minutes yesterday.
It was only “down” for a few moments. However, when it came back online, the system was unable to find many of the trains in the system.
The system that crashed only controls the numbered lines. While the system went down and recovered, many trains were forced remain in stations or mid-tunnels while dispatchers manually radioed individual trains to determine their location. Yikes.
Perhaps some of the MTA employees that read SUBWAYblogger could enlighten us on why the computer can’t locate trains after a reboot. I assume the trains have to pass some sort of sensor on the track. So if the trains weren’t moving, they hadn’t passed over a sensor since the reboot.
SUBWAYblogger 
That’s a recipe for disaster. I remember when the drunk train driver killed 5 people. The dirt bag robert ray. After the deaths and when the feds threatened to step in, the MTA finally got the union to allow random drug testing. That was over 10 years ago and what seems obvious now was resisted heavily by the union for years back then. Even my friends in the union agree random drug testing is GOOD. And now it is federally mandated for certain mass transit workers like motormen.
The feds should step in now to test the control system. And it should be tested during off-hours. Lives are at staks and the MTA should not be left to fix this looming disaster themselves. That is like letting children play with matches next to a gas can.
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