2 People Climb Through UWS Subway Grate Into Abandoned Train Station: See It

By Gus Saltonstall

A peculiar incident took place on the Upper West Side earlier this month.

On June 17, two people who appear to be teenagers or young adults opened a subway grate on Broadway, between West 91st and 92nd streets, and climbed into it, as video shared with West Side Rag shows. The specific block is where the abandoned West 91st Street train station, which has been out of service since 1959, once stood.

“A couple got inside the abandoned train station, which is located on Broadway and 91st Street,” an employee of a nearby building, who wished to remain anonymous, told West Side Rag. “I guess going underground has become a trend in the younger generations. Fire Department personnel got inside but didn’t find them, it’s a mystery where the young couple ended up.”

“We can remind MTA to do a better job at securing all these possible access points for underground,” the employee added.

Video shows the pair walking up to the grate, surveying the scene to make sure nobody was coming, and then opening the hatch and climbing down one by one. There was then a large police and firefighter response.

Here is the story through screenshots from the video. WSR had permission to take photos from the video, but not publish the video itself.

Somewhat unexpectedly, when reached for comment about the incident, an FDNY spokesperson said the situation was “unfounded, Fire/EMS wasn’t needed.” A spokesperson for the NYPD told the Rag that there was “no complaint report” connected to what happened.

The two people were not found.

An MTA spokesperson confirmed that the grate was the agency’s property.

“Confirming that this is MTA property and transit crews have welded the grate shut,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Rag.

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