A "vagrant" set a shopping cart full of wood blocks ablaze at the Chambers Street subway station in NYC on Sunday. The result was a fire which severely damaged the "C line" and put it out of commission indefinitely.
The fire was started in an un-staffed room which contained over 600 relay circuits used to power signals and switches in the underground darkness.
The fire has shut down the C line which accommodates 110,000 daily riders.
Officials believe it could take between three and five years to fix relays and restore full service.
This Chambers Street blaze is worse than the 1999 fire at a control room at the Bergen Street station on the F and G lines in Brooklyn. (No TKID3, I am not making that up) That fire was allegedly started by a hobo’s clandestine rat hide tanning operation.
Cops are still searching for the Robin Hood of C.H.U.D. land who started the conflagration on the C line.
Editorial moment: And what is with the three to five year estimate of repair? We went from a V-2 to putting Armstrong on the moon in 10 years, but we can't install some circuits in a Brooklyn subway in less than five? I say we put TKID1 on the case. He can restore a classical organ in 2.5 years easy. And he's a natural born tunnel rat. Let's turn him loose with some pliers, 3-in-1 oil, gauze pads, and a flash light in his teeth. The vagrant-cong won't know what hit them.
