What is the deadliest subway crash in New York City history?

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) — On the exterior of a subway station in Brooklyn lies a plaque memorializing the deadliest subway crash in New York City history.

The Malbone Street Wreck occurred on Nov. 1, 1918. Nearly 100 people died in the crash.

In the 1910s, before the creation of the MTA, the city’s subway lines were operated by private companies. One of the private systems, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), had a contract with the city to construct new subway lines and upgrade older ones, according to the New York Transit Museum .

The “dual contracts era” led to the inception of a new tunnel that traveled under Malbone Street in the area of Flatbush and Prospect Park. The tunnel was built in a tricky curved shape, and train operators were instructed to travel 6 miles per hour to ensure safety, per the New York Transit Museum.

At the time, there was an ongoing strike between BRT and a railroad labor union. To accommodate for the lack of motormen, BRT pulled inexperienced employees to operate the trains, according to the New York Transit Museum. Edward Luciano, a 23-year-old train dispatcher, was recruited as a motorman during the strike and operated the train the day of the crash, PBS reported .

On Nov. 1, Luciano — while still grieving the death of his child to the Spanish flu and an influenza infection —  set his train toward the Malbone Street tunnel.

Typically, motormen were required to have 90 hours of instruction and hands-on learning. Luciano only received two hours of classroom learning before operating the difficult route on the Brighton Beach-bound train, the New York Times reported.

As Luciano’s train navigated the steep entrance and sharp curve of the Malbone Street tunnel, witnesses estimated that the train rushed in at 30 miles per hour, PBS reported.

The train derailed, and the wooden train cars were crushed by the sheer force of the crash. Many of the victims were injured by shards of wood or glass and electrocuted by the third rail, PBS reported.

First responders used the Brooklyn Dodger’s Ebbets Field, which is now the Ebbets Field Apartments, to give first aid to the wounded commuters.

Luciano, as well as five BRT supervisors and executives, were indicted with manslaughter charges, the New York Times reported. However, all six of the defendants were acquitted of the charges.

The tunnel where the crash happened still exists. However, it is used to turn around the Franklin Avenue shuttle train with no passengers onboard. City officials renamed Malbone Street to what is now known as Empire Boulevard.

Charline Charles is a digital journalist from Brooklyn who has covered local news along with culture and arts in the New York City area since 2019. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here .

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