M2 Train stuck in the Bronx Jan 22

I was on 6519 on Sunday when, north of Melrose it came to a stop.
Mechanical problems.
Later they said air pressure problems (brakes?).

Eventually, the next train came along and they got bridge plates and had the passengers from the eight car train evacuate out of the two head cars. I was in the front car anyway so it did not take long for me to cross over.

Of course they need to cut power first and get everyone over.
After power is restored, they need to make sure the other train (6517) has the correct air pressure.

The 11:12 scheduled arrival ended up as approx 12:20. It was not fun, wasting an hour but it sounds like others have had worse journeys and, with safety as the priority, it was not that bad a situation. I was happy when they made the relatively quick decision to transfer us to another (next train coming) train.

Most likely it was an air leak. If the air brake pressure is not above a certain amount, the brakes will not release. Considering how old most NH Line cars are, this type of problem isn't that unusual.

I have not been that unlucky to be stuck for such a long time although have been involved in plenty of small 5 to 10 min delays where the crew or mechanical was able to fix the issue or it was decided to couture with out it being fixed when resets when it has been things like AC issues. Every time the crew was very professional and made sure everyone was well informed of the situation. I do hope Metro North takes the positive feedback they get after these events and rewards the train crews for doing a great job. I want to take this opportunity to thank any Railroad employes who may be hear for how well these events are handled.

The Engineer was wearing a Mets hat so he understood customer frustration. Again, it took 20 minutes before the next train would come by but they knew the problem was not going to be fixed in a short time so they had to make the decision.

They also wanted to find out how many people were on board. Did not matter much since standing for fifteen minutes is not a big deal. Unless the next train would be over weight.

It's best not to get angry with the train crews. They are only following instructions given to them. I can tell you from many such episodes, the crews do the best they can with some pretty old cars.