Following the discovery on Saturday of human remains on the elevated subway tracks between two Bronx subway stations serving the 4 line in the Concourse section of the borough, passengers were left feeling exasperated over the holiday weekend while the sole central north-south subway service was temporarily suspended.

 

Given there is obviously no east-west subway connection to transfer to an alternate subway line running south, the incident highlights once again the frustrations many Bronxites feel when it comes to subpar subway transportation options in the borough.

 

As reported, an MTA official at 167th Street Subway station in the Concourse section told Norwood News that service was disrupted on the 4 line on Saturday, Feb. 17, due to “police activity.” An NYPD spokesperson later said police received a call at around 1.02 p.m. and officers from the 44th Precinct responded to a report of remains found along the northbound 4 line roadbed between the 167th Street station and 170th Street station.

“Upon arrival, officers observed a human leg along the roadbed,” a spokesperson said. “The leg was removed and the investigation remains ongoing.”

 

As reported, the MTA had announced several subway service changes in The Bronx for the holiday weekend to take account of Presidents’ Day on Monday, Feb.19, including the temporary suspension of the D train in both directions between Norwood-205th Street and 161st Street-Yankee Stadium from 11:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, to 5 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20. Signs posted to the 205th Street station advised regular D train passengers to use the 4 line instead and avail of the free D90 shuttle service between 205th Street/Norwood (D) and Mosholu Parkway (4) stations.

 

MTA officials also said downtown trains weren’t stopping at 155th Street due to structural maintenance.

MTA riders were left stranded in the north Bronx on Saturday between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. roughly as a result of the disruption to the 4 service while police investigated the discovery of the human leg on the subway tracks between the 167th Street station and 170th Street station.

 

After speaking to passengers, some of whom were not aware the 4 line was not running, we later spoke to one MTA bus driver seated in a bus parked on Bainbridge Avenue at East 207th Street on Saturday and explained that a passenger said they had been waiting for over an hour for the shuttle bus. “No. It couldn’t be,” he said. “The shuttle bus is down the block. It’s running.”

 

We also spoke to an MTA booth clerk at East 205th Street Station in Norwood and asked about the reported delays and she said,  “There’s a shuttle bus upstairs, I don’t know how long it’s running, but there’s a shuttle bus around the corner on this side.” An MTA supervisor in an MTA car parked outside of the East 205th Street Subway Station also said the shuttle buses were running.

When informed that the 4 train wasn’t running, the MTA booth clerk said, “Right, so if it’s not running then you have to find your way by bus. Where you going? If you’re trying to follow the D train line, then take the bus over to Mosholu and get the Bx-1 or the Bx…etc.”

 

After being told there was no D train service, where signs had been posted at the station entrance indicating same, a commuter exiting East 205th Street Station in Norwood said, “Yeah, I tried. I was at Woodlawn and they told me to take the Bx34 to here, and the D is not even working today.”

 

Meanwhile, we spoke to another commuter, Angel, from Norwood at around 3.45 p.m. who said, “For an hour, we’ve been waiting for this shuttle (bus) to come here, and we haven’t seen it – not once.” Asked about the bus parked at the bus stop which looked like a shuttle bus, he said, “That’s been sitting there for the last thirty minutes.”

 

We told Angel about another bus seen parked at Bainbridge Avenue and East 207th Street. “That was another Bx10 bus,” he said. Asked where he was going, Angel said, “We’re trying to get on the D train. We’re trying to like figure it out. Like the 4 train isn’t working, yeah, it’s not working right now.”

Asked if he had heard what had happened to cause the suspension of the 4 line, he said “No.” When informed that human remains had reportedly been found on the tracks near East 167th Street, Angel said, “They found human remains? Okay that’s (expletive) crazy. All right, awesome.”

 

We informed the passenger that another commuter had made it from the 4 train to Bainbridge Avenue only to find out the D train wasn’t running either and wasn’t happy. Angel said, “Yeah, the D isn’t running. It hasn’t been running for the last who knows how (expletive) long” Asked where he was trying to go, he said, “To Harlem right now to have some food but it’s not (expletive) happening.” Outside temperature on Saturday was around 37 degrees.

 

Asked if there had been any announcements from the MTA to advise what was happening, Angel said, “I stopped somebody walking towards the MTA (office on Bainbridge Avenue in Norwood) and he said this side (of Bainbridge Avenue by the Capital One Bank) goes to Bedford (Park Boulevard) and that one (on the other side of Bainbridge Avenue by Nicky’s Coffee Shop) goes to Mosholu (Parkway Subway Station) and he had no information on how long it’s going to take. That’s it.” Asked what he was planning to do, Angel said,  “I have no idea.”

We later spoke to an MTA shuttle bus driver outside Nicky’s Coffee Shop on Bainbridge Avenue in Norwood, and asked him where he was taking passengers.  “Over there to Mosholu Parkway and the 4 train,” he said. Asked if he had not heard that the 4 train wasn’t running, he said,  “That’s what I heard. They’ll walk over to the Grand Concourse and get the 1 or 2 (train).”

 

The 1 train runs along Broadway and 2 train on White Plains Road. The driver also said he was taking riders to “Mosholu Parkway and Pelham Parkway” even though these streets do not cross.

 

We also spoke to another commuter, Christopher Perkins, from Norwood who was waiting on the D train about the disrupted service, and he said, “I don’t know what time (the 4 train service) started up again, but yeah, I was waiting from…. I got there at 2 (p.m.)  and was waiting until 3 o’clock. I just got fed up and left, but I went down into the subway to ask what was going on and the woman at the subway booth knew nothing and people were saying that they just came from the 4 (train) because they said that there were no trains running between (East) 149 Street and Woodlawn, but they wouldn’t say why.”

 

Perkins continued, “And you know, at a minimum, I guess they just kept the buses over by the 4 train but they didn’t post anything to say, ‘Hey, there’s no trains running. Don’t wait here.’ They didn’t let the lady downstairs at the 205 Street Station, you know, let people know what’s going on. People were waiting around like (expletive.)”

Perkins was asked if he had known the 4 train wasn’t running temporarily on Saturday. He said he knew the City had been replacing part of the track between Bedford Park Boulevard and Woodlawn. “I knew that there was a chance [it wasn’t running] because they do shut it down on the weekends sometimes. Anybody who [takes] it during the week [knows] they always post signs in advance that it’s not going to be running this weekend, but especially with a 3-day weekend, they usually do work on long weekends.”

 

Perkins continued, “They even stopped the bus and there was no one on this side to say there’s no bus coming. Between 2 and 3 o’clock there was nothing running. I mean all the other buses (were running) but there was no shuttle bus because I stood there waiting, freezing my ass off.”

 

Asked where he was going, he said he was going to meet his son in Manhattan to see the new Bob Marley film “One Love.” Perkins added, “I called him up and cancelled and I said, ‘Let’s do it tomorrow.’” He said he later posted something on Facebook about the incident.

When informed that human remains were found along the 4 line elevated subway tracks, Perkins said, “You know what I’m thinking? There was a shoot out (as reported) on Mt. Eden (subway station). Well, what happens if somebody got shot and tried to go on the tracks to avoid bullets? Maybe they’re hit? They make it from Mt. Eden to (East) 167^th or part of the way there, and collapse? So, maybe he either hid somewhere and got hit by a train and dragged or something, and they didn’t find the body parts until this week? That’s just a theory but it’s one station away.”

 

Perkins added, “I wish we could find out how long there were no trains from (East) 149 Street. There was nothing leaving The Bronx, except the 2 train and the 6 train all the way on the other side of the town, no way to connect until you get to (East) 149 Street. How long was there no service in the entire west side of The Bronx?”

 

He continued, “There would have been nothing all the way down to Yankee Stadium, no subway stations on either the D or the 4 train all the way down to (East) 161st, nothing running.

Asked if he had seen any buses parked and idle, Perkins said, “Before I left, one bus drove up and it was out of service, and it was just idling, and it just sat there.” Asked for how long, he said, “Probably for the last 15 minutes that I was there, from maybe 2:45 to 3 o’clock.”

 

He added, “And how come they could not tell anybody; you know there was no communication… At least, send one bus driver back. If there are two buses going back and forth, send one back and have him tell the people downstairs… and when you see people standing there, say ‘Hey, look, boom, there’s no (expletive) trains’.”

The MTA had advised that the service changes over the weekend were subject to change, and recommended checking the MTA homepage before heading out to find up-to-the-minute information on subway, bus, and rail service. They also said their apps,  MYmta and TrainTime, provide real-time service information.

 

However, as was evident during the pandemic, not all people, especially seniors, use modern technology. MTA officials said riders can also contact the MTA in real time for help planning a trip. They said they’re reachable via phone, on Twitter and WhatsApp, through the TrainTime apps, and more.

 

Perkins continued, “I was watching both sides (of Bainbridge Avenue). There were no shuttles. There were other buses on the other side, but there weren’t shuttles coming. The shuttle is a free bus that you can get on and take it. Sometimes, it goes to Mosholu (Parkway subway station) and sometimes if only 205 Street is closed off, then they stop the trains at Bedford Park [Boulevard]. They do a shuttle from 205 Street, but if they shut the whole D train down, then they take you over to Woodlawn.”

Perkins added, “They’ve got to let the token booth clerk at the 205 Street Station know because she had no clue what was going on. People were coming down to her saying, ‘Hey look, they sent me over from the 4 train.”

 

Asked if there was red tape across the turnstiles, Perkins said, “I didn’t even turn around to look, but there were signs posted that there were no trains. No, when I was there between 2 and 3 o’clock she had no idea what was going on.”

 

In reference to an MTA office located on Bainbridge Avenue in Norwood, Perkins concluded, “You know the MTA has a storefront that they keep as a way station for bus drivers right on that block, so you can’t tell me there was nobody around to make an announcement.”

Norwood News reached out to the MTA for comment on the passengers’ frustrations following the incident. An MTA spokesperson referred to the police investigation and the related temporary suspension of service to the 4 line, and added, “As an alternative, customers were advised to use [the] local bus service as there is no D train service between 161 St-Yankee Stadium and Norwood-205 St due to structural maintenance: https://twitter.com/NYCTSubway/status/1758930316784271642.”

 

Anyone with information regarding the incident involving the discovery of the human leg is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ on Twitter @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.

 

Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to correct and extend comments made by Christopher Perkins when asked if he had known the 4 train (not the D train) wasn’t running temporarily on Saturday.