By Y.M. Lowy

A subway power station in Downtown Brooklyn exploded last year, sending flames shooting out of a subway grate and leaving more than 4,000 riders stuck on trains. Now, a new MTA audit has found that the agency had missed nearly one in five required maintenance checks at its subway substations during that same year.

The explosion happened in December 2024 at the State Street substation. Nobody was injured, but the blast knocked out power and caused major subway disruptions in the area.

Substations are the power stations that keep the subway running. They take electricity from the city’s power grid and convert it into the type of electricity needed to run trains through the third rail.

The MTA Inspector General’s office launched its audit after the explosion. Investigators visited 16 of the MTA’s more than 200 substations and reviewed maintenance records and spoke with employees.

They found that NYC Transit did not complete 19% of the required maintenance checks in 2024.

The situation was even more serious at the State Street substation. Of 23 scheduled maintenance assignments, 12 had not been completed before the explosion.

The MTA’s own investigation found that the explosion was caused by damaged copper tubing inside a transformer. Because the tubing was located inside the transformer, it could not be seen during a normal visual inspection, so the damage went undetected.

The Inspector General also found other safety problems. Workers at some substations were not wearing required protective equipment while working around high-voltage electricity. Auditors also found that workers ignored fire alarm “trouble” signals at all six substations they visited that had those systems. Those alerts indicate that the fire alarm system is not working properly.

The audit also questioned who was assigned to investigate the Brooklyn explosion, noting that an assistant chief trained as a carpenter was used for the review instead of an electrician.

The MTA says it has since made changes. NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said 30 substations have been rehabilitated since the 2024 explosion, and the agency has restructured its Power Division to give separate oversight to the power and signal systems.

Maintenance also improved in 2025, with NYC Transit completing 90% of its required substation checks, compared with about 81% the year before.

The MTA is also planning to spend $3 billion on new power systems as part of its effort to upgrade the aging subway infrastructure.