Grand Central briefly goes dark after power outage

Lights blacked out in parts of Grand Central Terminal briefly on Thursday evening after a voltage drop in the electricity feeder network, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The voltage drop happened at 8:28 p.m.; the lights were back on at the upper level at 8:53 p.m. and the lower level at 9:17 p.m., the MTA said in a news release.

People at Grand Central during the outages took to social media to post photos of a darkened terminal

“Found myself in a place I never thought I’d be — Grand Central during a blackout! Incredibly eerie,” Erin Maher wrote on X.

No train service was disrupted, according to the MTA, which owns the terminal.

Five employees of the Metro-North commuter railroad “were briefly in elevators stopped without electricity, until doors were opened and emergency generators activated,” the release said.

The cause of the outrage wasn’t disclosed, and the MTA is working with Con Edison to figure it out.

Con Edison couldn’t be immediately reached.

It wasn't the first blackout at Grand Central, although power outages there are rare.

In February 2016, a water pipe burst and disrupted electrical feeds, causing partial blackouts, including at the lower level and on the dining concourse.

And in May 1986, thousands of morning commuters arrived to the city in semi-darkness, a blackout that also affected eight nearby buildings due to a power outage.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.