• NYC subway construction worker rescued from 'muck'

    Craig Ruttle / AP

    A worker, left wearing a black fire helmet, is rescued from an MTA subway construction project in New York early on March 20, after being trapped up to his chest in debris for several hours. Fire officials say he is awake and conscious and is being evaluated at a local hospital.

    Craig Ruttle / AP

    Officers from the New York City police Emergency Services Unit, covered in mud and dirt, walk to a waiting bus to warm up after rescuing a construction worker trapped underground at an MTA subway construction project in New York early on March 20. The worker, trapped for several hours, was lifted from underground with the assistance of the New York police and fire departments.

    Craig Ruttle / AP

    A construction transport bucket, right, is moved into place at the scene where a worker was trapped underground at an MTA subway construction project in New York on March 19.

    By NBCNewYork.com,

    NEW YORK -- A construction worker was rescued from an underground trench at the site of the Second Avenue subway construction project after being stuck in mud for nearly four hours Tuesday night.

    The worker became trapped at about 8:30 p.m. ET -- in what firefighters at the scene described as "muck" -- from the waist down inside the trench about 75 feet below street level, FDNY officials said. Continue reading.

    Comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: , , , ,

  • Robin Van Lonkhuijsen / EPA

    Pedestrians stroll Amsterdam's underground

    People walk through the new subway tunnel between the Damrak and Rokin in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on March 17. The tunnels are open to the public for a limited time before the new north-south metro line is installed.

  • Eerie underworld beneath Manhattan

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    A contractor works on the East Side Access project beneath midtown Manhattan in New York.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Contractors work on the East Side Access project beneath midtown Manhattan, in New York. The East Side Access is one of three bold projects under New York that will expand what's already the nation's biggest mass-transit system by 2019.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Contractors work on the East Side Access project beneath midtown Manhattan in New York.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    In this Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 photo, contractors work on the East Side Access project beneath midtown Manhattan, in New York. The East Side Access is one of three bold projects under New York that will expand what's already the nation's biggest mass-transit system by 2019.

     By Verena Dobnik, AP

    Published at 3:07pm ET: NEW YORK - Sixteen stories below Grand Central Terminal, an army of workers is blasting through bedrock to create a new commuter rail concourse with more floor space than New Orleans' Superdome, just one of three audacious projects going on beneath New York City's streets to expand what's already the nation's biggest mass transit system.

    But even with blasting and machinery grinding through the rock day and night, most New Yorkers are blithely unaware of the construction or the eerie underworld that includes a massive, eight-story cavern, miles of tunnels and watery, gravel-filled pits.

    Continue reading

     

    •Sign up for the msnbc.com Photos Newsletter

  • Miss Subways: Queens of the underground rediscovered

    MTA via New York City Transit Museum/AP

    Ellen Hart is featured on a placard that appeared in the New York City subways during March and April of 1959.

    Ellen Hart Sturm, third from right, sings at her restaurant, Ellen's Stardust Diner, on Broadway in New York in 2007. Sturm appeared on "Meet Miss Subways" placards in New York during March and April of 1959.

     

    NBC New York reports: It was an ad campaign conceived as eye candy to bring attention to other advertisements in New York's transit system. But the "Meet Miss Subways" beauty contest posters of pretty young New York women and their aspirations quickly evolved into a popular and even groundbreaking fixture that ran for 35 years, from 1941 to 1976.

    When photographer Fiona Gardner first learned about it she "immediately wanted to know what happened to all the women."

    She set out to find out.

    The result is "Meet Miss Subways: New York's Beauty Queens 1941-76," an exhibition at the New York Transit Museum running Oct. 23-March 25, and a companion book of the same name. With journalist Amy Zimmer, Gardner tracked down 146 Miss Subways posters and interviewed 41 winners in person. Together they collaborated on the book, with Gardner taking the women's portraits wearing their Miss Subways sashes at home or at work. Continue reading...

     

    MTA via New York City Transit Museum/AP

    Marcia Kilpatrick is featured in "The Meet Miss Subways" campaign that appeared in the New York City subways from Nov. 1974-April 1975.

    Fiona Gardner via AP

    Marcia Kilpatrick Hocker on a Midtown Manhattan street in New York in 2009. Hocker appeared on "Meet Miss Subways" placards in New York City during Nov. 1974–April 1975. Hocker married an American diplomat in 1981 and lived for a time in Colombia and New Zealand. She put her talents to use, singing at embassy functions and coaching American children in drama. For the past 11 years, she's been a DJ at Jazz Radio KMHD in Portland, Ore.


    MTA via New York City Transit Museum/AP

    Maureen Walsh is featured in a "Meet Miss Subway" campaign that appeared in the New York City subways from February to August 1968.

    Fiona Gardner via AP

    Maureen Walsh Roaldsen poses in 2007 at the appellate court in Brooklyn where she was an attorney. Roaldsen appeared on "Meet Miss Subways" placards in the New York City subways during Feb.–Aug. 1968. She was 23 and working as a secretary at Downstate Medical Center when she won. On weekends, she greeted VIPs and celebrities at the Diamond Club at Shea Stadium. In her 40s she launched a new career as an attorney for the New York State Appellate Court. Full story on NBC New York

    Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

     

  • Models take fashion underground for Berlin subway catwalk

    Barbara Sax / AFP - Getty Images

    A model presents a creation during the Chevrolet Underground Catwalk, a fashion show in a special driving train of Berlin's subway, on the sidelines of the Berlin Fashion Week on Wednesday in Berlin. The Berlin Fashion Week, presenting the collections of Spring/Summer 2013, is running from July 2 to 8, 2012.

    Hannibal Hanschke / EPA

    Models arrive for the Underground Catwalk fashion show in a metro station in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday. Underground Catwalk is part of the annual Fashion Week in Berlin.

    Thomas Peter / Reuters

    German model Micaela Schaefer presents a creation during the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in a U-Bahn subway train in Berlin. As the Berlin Fashion Week has pitched up its tent near the Siegessaeule victory column, 17 designers sent their models on Wednesday down a catwalk that was the aisle of a crowded U-Bahn subway train terminating at a rock music club. They presented their collections to an audience limited to 150 people, the organiser said.

    See more images of fashion in PhotoBlog.

    •Sign up for the msnbc.com Photos Newsletter

  • Jacky Naegelen / Reuters

    Police gather at the entrance to the Chaussee d'Antin La Fayette Metro station in Paris after a car accidentally drove into it, April 24, 2012

    SUV drives into Paris subway station

    See more unusual car accidents on PhotoBlog:

  • One worker killed in New York crane collapse

    Frank Franklin II / AP

    Fireman remove an injured man from the site of a crane collapse where construction is going on for the 7 line subway extension Tuesday, April 3, in New York. Fire officials say a crane collapse at a Manhattan construction site has injured two people.

    Frank Franklin II / AP

    Emergency personel remove an injured man from the site of a crane collapse where construction is going on for the 7 line subway extension on April 3, in New York. Fire officials say a crane collapse at a Manhattan construction site has injured two people.

     From AP:

    NEW YORK (AP) - Authorities on Wednesday were focusing on what caused a construction boom crane to crash to the ground at a Manhattan work site, killing one construction worker and seriously injuring another.

    The dead worker was identified by police as Michael Simmermeyer, 30, of Burlington, N.J. He was pronounced dead following Tuesday's accident at the No. 7 subway line extension construction site. One other person was hospitalized in serious condition and three people were treated for minor injuries.

    The crane was set up on the second of three levels on the construction site on Manhattan's West Side, city officials said. The FDNY said the boom came apart in two pieces - one 80 feet long and the other 40 feet long. Click here to read the latest on the crane collapse.

  • New York subway workers run 'Rate My Rat' photo contest

    Brendan McDermid / Reuters

    A photo of a rat is displayed on the "Rate my Rat" section of the website www.ratfreesubways.com.

    Reuters reports from NEW YORK: 

    Subway workers angered over what they say is a rat infestation in their workplace are holding a photo contest for the "nastiest" shot of a rodent, with a grand prize of a monthly transit pass.

    Commuters who see rats on subway platforms and tracks are urged to upload photos to www.ratfreesubways.com, created by the Transport Workers Union Local 100, New York City's largest transit union.

    The union is calling for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to clean stations more regularly, place more trash cans on subway platforms, and repair holes in walls and floors. Read the full story.

     

    www.ratfreesubways.com

    Left: Rat in a trash can. 138th St 3rd Av IRT 6.
    Center: Atlantic Terminal. Manhattan-bound N/D platform.
    Right: 7th Avenue.

    Some of the tamer pictures uploaded to the rats' rogue gallery are reproduced above. If you'd like to see some much nastier images -- and help to rate the rodents on a sliding scale from "Handsome" through to "Beastly" -- here's the link.

  • Boom!! Giant boring machine breaks through subway wall under New York City

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    Officials cover their mouths from a dust cloud created by a tunnel boring machine cutting through a solid rock wall, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 in New York.

    Mary Altaffer / AP

    A construction worker, also known as a sandhog, climbs down from a hole created by a tunnel boring machine on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 in New York.

    By Natalia Jimenez, NBC News

    Today marked an important milestone for the creation of the Second Avenue subway line in New York City. A tunnel boring machine reached the Lexington-63rd Street station, breaking into the existing tunnel that will connect it to the Q line. This marks the end of the first phase of the project.

    It is nice seeing the Second Avenue line make headway. As many other New Yorkers can attest, this project felt like a myth for a long time, but it seems that shorter commutes for those along York and East End Avenues are on the way.

    More on the new line on NY1.com

  • Subway blast takes lives during evening rush hour in Minsk, Belarus

    AP reports: "President Alexander Lukashenko said 11 people were killed and about 100 injured."

     There was no immediate determination of what caused the explosion, but the RIA Novosti news agency cited Lukashenko as saying he did not discount the possibility that it was organized "from outside."  Read the full story here.

    Sergei Grits / AP

    A wounded blast victim is brought by rescuers to an ambulance in Minsk, Belarus, on Monday, April 11, 2011. An explosion tore through a subway station in the Belarusian capital during evening rush hour Monday, and an official in the presidential administration said there were fatalities.

    Sergei Grits / AP

    A wounded blast victim speaks on a cell phone at Oktyabrskaya subway station in Minsk, Belarus, on Monday, April 11, 2011. An explosion tore through a subway station in the Belarusian capital during evening rush hour Monday, and an official in the presidential administration said there were fatalities.

  • Mary Altaffer / AP

    A subway construction worker, known as a "sandhog" works on the tracks in the Second Avenue subway construction project on April 7, 2011 in New York. The south-bound track has been completed to 65th Street and the north-bound track is expected to be completed to 65th Street by the end of the year. The Second Avenue subway line will run from 125th Street to the Financial District in Lower Manhattan.

    The secret world of New York City subway construction workers

    From wikipedia.org
    When the subway debuted in 1904, the typical tunnel construction method was cut-and-cover. The street was torn up to dig the tunnel below before being rebuilt from above. This method worked for digging soft dirt and gravel near the street surface.

    However, mining shields were required for deeper sections, all of which used rock or concrete-lined tunnels.

    About 40% of the subway system runs on surface or elevated tracks, including steel or cast iron elevated structures, concrete viaducts, embankments, open cuts and surface routes. All of these construction methods are completely grade-separated from road and pedestrian crossings, and most crossings of two subway tracks are grade-separated with flying junctions.

Older posts