Impatient Rider Leaps Off Train to Walk on Tracks

A straphanger impatient with the delays caused by a stalled subway train in a tunnel during Tuesday’s morning rush hour jumped off the cars and walked on the tracks.

Signal problems that have plagued the system in recent months brought the F train to a stop for nearly half an hour outside Manhattan’s 34th Street station. The glitch at about 6:30 a.m. spread through the system, causing major delays.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said the agency received reports of one man jumping onto the tracks from the space between subway cars.

“I cannot stress enough how dangerous this is,” Ortiz said. “With a live third rail and the possibility of the train moving at any time, this individual could have been seriously injured or worse.”

The stress of a crumbling subway system with more passengers than ever — 5.6 million weekly in 2016 — has caused the number of train delays to triple in the past five years, to 70,000 per month.

Riders were trapped last week on a sweltering F train for about 45 minutes, with no lights or ventilation. And in April, a power outage backed up trains around the city and closed a key Manhattan station for 12 hours.