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Cuomo Calls for Probe After Con Ed 'Explosion' Snarls Weekend Trains: City

By Caroline Spivack | September 18, 2017 9:52am | Updated on September 18, 2017 2:54pm

RED HOOK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a state investigation into a power surge at a Con Edison substation in Red Hook that caused extensive train delays and power outages at a public housing complex Sunday afternoon. 

The New York Housing Authority called the incident an "explosion," which damaged a unit feeding power to three of its apartment buildings in the western portion of the Red Hook Houses — two on Columbia Street and one of Bush Street, NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake said Monday. 

The outage, which occurred at roughly 1 p.m., also caused signal delays for five train lines and sent Con Ed workers scrambling to make repairs. On the A, C and F lines, there was no service at all between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Cuomo called the power failure “completely unacceptable” on Sunday and urged the Department of Public Service to review the situation. 

“Con Ed must be held accountable for the multitude of issues with their infrastructure that are too frequently impacting the lives of millions of New Yorkers,” he said in a statement. “I am directing the Department of Public Service to conduct an immediate top to bottom investigation into today's incident — the status quo cannot continue.”

Sunday's train delays were the latest problem with the city's beleaguered subway system, which has experienced several recent power outages stalling straphangers across the city. 

The "equipment failure" triggered an explosion that damaged the Red Hook substation. Con Ed workers are in the process of investigating what caused the failure, Con Ed spokesman Allan Drury said Monday.

Sunday's incident also disrupted elevators and air conditioners in three of NYCHA's Red Hook Houses, but power to all three buildings was fully restored Monday, said Blake. 

“NYCHA staff responded immediately to the power outage and were able to assist residents while working closely with Con Edison to fully restore power," she said to DNAinfo on Monday.