# Construction drill pierced a tunnel serving the F train in NY. oops! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 30, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-drill-pierced-a-tunnel-serving-the-f-train-in-ny-oops/703061 "2014-10-30T22:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-drill-pierced-a-tunnel-serving-the-f-train-in-ny-oops/703061/1 "2014-10-30T22:21:13Z")
Thankfully no one got hurt. What a blunder. 😛 I’ve drilled from my attic into a wall cavity and missed before. Even threaded 8 ft of Romex wire into the wall. Only to find it outside the wall and curled on the floor after climbing out of the attic. Oops . Time to try again and Spackle that hole in the ceiling. Kind of funny that the construction guys make the same mistake with a 10 inch diameter bit in rock. How long was that bit? 20 ft or more? It’s like drilling a water well I guess. > **[Drill bit blunder in MTA’s East Side Access project nearly cuts into occupied...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2014/10/30/drill-bit-blunder-in-mtas-east-side-access-project-nearly-cuts-into-occupied-f-train-in-queens/)** > > A contractor operating a drill as part of the MTA’s East Side Access project mistakenly penetrated a Queens subway tunnel on Thursday, and the massive bit scraped the top and side of an occup… > [@](#): > > A massive construction drill bit pierced a tunnel serving the F train and sliced the top and side of an occupied car in Queens on Thursday — but no one was injured as a result of the terrifying blunder. > > Roughly 800 passengers were aboard the F train at the time, transit officials said. The drill bit, being used as part of the MTA’s East Side Access project, made contact with the F train shortly after it left the 21st St. Station in Long Island City, triggering its emergency brakes to deploy at about 11:45 a.m., transit officials said. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-drill-pierced-a-tunnel-serving-the-f-train-in-ny-oops/703061/2 "2014-10-30T22:46:05Z")
Huh. Reminds me of David Macaulay’s wonderful book “Underground,” a hand-drawn explanation (for older kids and adults, too) of all the stuff below street level in a city – and how hard it is to do any kind of work without bumping into some previous installation. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-drill-pierced-a-tunnel-serving-the-f-train-in-ny-oops/703061/3 "2014-10-30T22:54:13Z")
The Chicago Loop Flood of 1992 was much more exciting - there a work crew on the Chicago River went through the bottom of the river into the top of a tunnel, flooding the underground regions of the Loop and River North, not to mention all the subway tunnels in the area. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-drill-pierced-a-tunnel-serving-the-f-train-in-ny-oops/703061/4 "2014-10-31T05:03:34Z")
I can’t find it now, but I read an interesting article once about a trenching company that ended up cutting in to the roof of a train car. They insisted there was no tunnel on the map they’d been given, which turned out to be 'cause due to city expansion over the years, they were technically on a _bridge_ over a railway, even though you’d never know it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-drill-pierced-a-tunnel-serving-the-f-train-in-ny-oops/703061/5 "2014-10-31T21:14:25Z")
At least they didn’t drain a lake into a salt mine like these guys: [Lake Peigneur - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur#Drilling_disaster) See also [Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom • Damn Interesting](http://www.damninteresting.com/lake-peigneur-the-swirling-vortex-of-doom/#continue) for more. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-drill-pierced-a-tunnel-serving-the-f-train-in-ny-oops/703061/6 "2014-10-31T21:18:22Z")
Looks like the MTA is now pre-drilling before they screw you.