NEW YORK, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Human error, not track defect, is to blame for Tuesday's subway train derailment in New York City that injured about three dozens people, officials said.
A preliminary investigation indicated the derailment was caused by "an improperly secured piece of replacement rail that was stored on the tracks," Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman Joe Shota and Interim Executive Director Ronnie Hakim said in a joint statement late Tuesday night.
A southbound A train suddenly came to a grinding halt before 10:00 am Tuesday when approaching the West 125th Street station in Harlem. Two of the train's eight cars derailed and scraped the side of the subway tunnel.
Two hundred firefighters, 100 police officers and dozens of MTA workers helped hundreds of commuters through the smoky tunnel.
The derailment is the latest of a string of accidents that have taken place in the NYC's aging subway systems in the first half of this year. The accidents were caused by various factors including mechanical failures and power outages.
