Police searching for woman accused of taking locked N subway train for joyride in Queens
ASTORIA, Queens (WABC) -- Police are searching for a woman who they say broke into a locked subway train and took it for a joyride in Queens.
The incident occurred around 4:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Police say an unidentified woman gained access inside a locked N train at Broadway Station, then moved it southbound one stop to the 36th Avenue station in Astoria.
The MTA says the train was not in service and no one was on board when it was taken, and there was no impact to service on Thursday morning.
Police say no one was injured, and there were no reports of damage.
This is not the first time a subway train has been taken for a joyride. According to TWU Local 100, cab doors are routinely locked, but the key is standard and works on every subway train in the transit system.
They say keys are either stolen or purchased on the black market.
In March, two juveniles punched a conductor in her face at the Park Slope station and stole her keys to the cab door.
Police say they already had a set of keys though.
In January, 15- and 17-year-old boys were arrested after driving an R train more than 30 miles an hour under the streets of Sunset Park.
And in September, two other teens were arrested for doing something similar in Queens.
The MTA says it has been putting locks on those doors, and is working on new technology to restrict access to conductor cabs.
"It's really time for biometrics," said MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber back in April. "Unfortunately, these old trains, we need to have modern security systems on them. It's one of the things we're spending a lot of money on in the next capital program."
The MTA could not say when this technology would be in place.
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