I see no reason Skin couldn’t do the same trick spidey did, using his fingers instead of webbing. (Aside from the fact that he’s dead, and it’s never been established how strong his skin is, and if it would rip.)
I don’t think Beast would try to physically stop it - he’s not near-indestructible like Spidey/Thing/Collossus/Superman. He’d try to rewire or fix the console. Kitty Pryde would just disable the computer wiring.
I think Batman would’ve pulled a complete electronics toolkit from his utility belt and fixed the controls and thus, the brakes, with just enough time to spare.
But what would Robin have done?
Robin is a sidekick, not a superhero, so he doesn’t qualify for the discussion. 
But seriously, the current batch of Robins (III and IV) have a utility belt that rivals Batman’s … some acid to partially dissolve a wheel or two , or improvised repairs on the controls…
Good point.
Re: My comment about the speedsters stopping the wheels by hand.
I meant that they could just apply a whole lot of little bits of friction at super speed in order to manually brake the wheels.
If the train was on the ground and Spidey was digging his heels into the gravel under the tracks, it would have worked then. But the train was on an elevated track, and Spidey had to dig into the cross ties. Clearly the force of the train was much greater than the force the cross ties could withstand, since they splintered and went flying. If the power was cut first it might have worked though.
Some subways have motors on each car, or even on every wheel.
Superman could conceivably stop a speeding train, but only if he managed to catch up with it.
I don’t see how that would help stop the train.
That reminds me. of a hijack: Have you read the Ultimates comics line (the updated Avengers)? Giant Man’s a wife beater, and regularly hits the Wasp with bug spray and fists. :eek:
It could be worse. He could encourage visible minorities to move into her neighborhood.
…'cause, y’know, wasps hate that.
I’ve been catching up on Spidey comics so I’ve been reading all the Amazing and Spectacular comics. I came across something interesting. In SSM #70, Spider-Man is fighting robotic Silvermane on a subway when Silvermane knocks out the engineer. The train starts barrelling out of control when…get this…Spidey pulls the Emergency brake. I guess Sam Ramai just figured that scene wasn’t exciting enough. 
Incidentally, are there el bridges currently under construction in NYC? If not, then having an el track end abruptly at the river (as opposed to simply at a station near the river) seems kind of odd. I’d have to see the movie again, but I don’t recall seeing any landmasses (like New Jersey or Long Island) beyond the end of the track, so where was this bridge-in-construction going to?
That’s assuming there ever was a bridge in mind, and the New York Transit Authority isn’t in the habit of building dead-end tracks to the shore just for the view.
Hawaii, presumably.
The long way.
Wasn’t he somewhat abusive to The Wasp in regular Marvel continuity?
Anyhoo…
That’s the Chicago “L” you’re seeing. The outside train sequences were shot in Chicago, but there are no elevated tracks that just stop like that (even for a good reason), and no tracks under construction.
The Flash (Silver Age) could carry people at super-speed without causing them harm. He would simply pick up each passenger, carry him/her to a safe place, then go back for another passenger, and so on, until the train was empty. Then he would let the train crash.
I am 80% certain that when I was a kid (mid to late 1970’s), I read a comic in which he did exactly that.
Just to recap – Superheroes who would be totally screwed in this scenario include:
Green Arrow
Hawkeye
The Atom
Most of the New Mutants
Half of the Teen Titans
The Wasp
Daredevil
The Punisher
Aquaman
Wonder Woman(?)
Professor X
Superheroes who might be able to kludge together a solution:
Batman
The Beast
Not previously mentioned, but if I recall their powers correctly, Hawkman/Hawkgirl would also be in the “screwed” category. Ditto Black Canary, Black Bolt, and most of the Inhumans.
Green Arrow/Hawkeye - Depends. An arrow makes a handy replacement lever if the rest of the panel is relatively intact. And one never can tell which one of these fellows might be packing a super-adhesive arrow.
The Atom - Emphatically not screwed. He shrinks and shorts the appropriate circuit with a paper clip. The Wasp could also potentially make use of this technique… though currently in Avengers, she’s been using Pym Particles to grow as well as shrink, so she’d actually be fine.
New Mutants - The classic team, or the current bunch of spazzes?
Teen Titans - Which team?
Daredevil - I put forth one plausible scenario for a Daredevil success - but that’s pretty much all the man can do.
Punisher - Frank? Frank’s screwed.
Aquaman - Stronger than Spidey. Really. Alternatively, the way it would probably go in an actual comic book would be that the train slips off into the water, and he summons a bunch of fish to rescue folks from the sinking metal coffin.
Wonder Woman - Much stronger than Spidey. Also has an unbreakable rope. You do the math.
Professor X - Only two plausible resolutions - one, telepathically contact someone at a remote location that can flip a switch and shut down the power on the train, or two, call in his X-Men.