MANHATTAN — Subway service was temporarily delayed throughout the city Wednesday morning when a vital electrical cable malfunctioned, officials said.
The MTA sent out a note at 9:58 a.m. saying "due to a temporary power loss system-wide, expect delays on all lines."
The disruptions were caused by a voltage dip to "high tension transmission feeders" about 9:30 a.m., which also flickered lights across the city, according to ConEd spokesman, Allan Drury.
The cause of the dip was still under investigation, but Drury said it was likely not heat-related. Temperatures were expected to rise to about 90 degrees Wednesday, which would make it the hottest day of the year to date, meteorologists said.
"We're not at record heat or anything like that, not even close. We're not at record usage either," Drury said.
No other customers reported outages apart from the brief subway delays, ConEdison said.
MTA's service disruption was resolved within five minutes, a spokeswoman said.
But for those who were underground at the time, the five minute outage sparked delays that felt like a lifetime.
Will Bernard, 33, a butcher from Hunts Point, said his normally 40-minute commute took more than an hour and a half.
Bernard emerged from the City Hall 4 and 5 lines' station just before 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, saying he had boarded the 6 train at Hunts Point at 9 a.m.
"The train was running slow. It was very bad. It's ridiculous," said Bernard, who said there were no announcements on why the trains were running so slow. "There has to be a better way to get where you're going."
