Cellphone Causes Train Disruption

A cell phone caused major delays on New York's commuter train lines last week. The cellphone in question belonged to Edwin Gallart, of the Edenwald section of the Bronx and he had managed to drop it down the train's toilet cistern.

Instead of calling on his insurance company - he stuck his hand down the cistern to try and retrieve the phone - and subsequently got his arm stuck in the toilet.

The net result was that rescue staff had to be called to use hydraulic power tools to cut through the cistern and free Gallart's arm. While the train was stopped at the nearest station, northbound local trains were rerouted and could not stop at the five Bronx stations on either side, causing delays for thousands of commuters.

"It cost our customers a long, convoluted commute, and it cost this railroad many thousands of dollars," said Dan Brucker, a spokesman for Metro-North. It has been estimated that the repair work will tak three days.

The MTA Metro-North Railroad is the second largest commuter railroad in the United States, provides approximately 250,000 customer trips each weekday."

Posted to the site on 3rd November 2003