Electrical problems cause systemwide delays on NYC subways

An electrical issue at MTA New York City Transit's (NYCT) main rail control center in Manhattan caused extensive delays yesterday for all the agency's subway lines.

The problem forced MTA to shift operations control to a backup center.

Residual delays remained last night on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 routes. Train arrival information was temporarily unavailable, as well, according to the MTA's Twitter account.

MTA is looking into whether the issue stemmed from a contractor that was performing work at the rail control center, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The issue was first reported to the agency as a power failure, but an MTA spokesman later said that the control center didn't lose power, according to the newspaper.