Straphangers Stranded On Freezing A Train During 2010 Blizzard To Get $2,500
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Some passengers stranded for hours on a freezing subway train during a 2010 blizzard are getting $2,500 from New York City's transit agency.
The settlements were reached with 38 riders who sued the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. They were among some 500 passengers aboard an A train that was idled by two feet of snow on Dec. 27 Passengers sat on the train for 10 hours without food, water or heat.
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The immobile train was sitting above ground at the Aqueduct Racetrack station, and according to stranded passenger Susan Jutt, just about everyone on the train was coming from Kennedy Airport after their flights were canceled.
"There was no other way to get out of the airport, the air train closed down, so there were shuttle buses that took us to the subway," Jutt said.
NYC Transit Spokesman Charles Seaton said snow drifts and ice on the third rail had stalled the trains at the Broad Channel and Aqueduct stops in Queens, north and south of Kennedy Airport.
Aymen Aboushi, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, said the goal of the suit was to ensure it didn't happen again.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz called it "a fair settlement for all parties involved."
Among measures the agency adopted after the storm was a customer advocate to ensure riders' well-being on stuck vehicles.
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