Never push the Big Red Button (New York City subway failure)

Fri Sep 10 17:48:46 UTC 2021

Reminds me of something that happened about 25 years ago when an elementary school visited our data center of the insurance company where I worked. One of our operators strategically positioned himself between the kids and the mainframe, leaned back and hit it's EPO button.

Matthew Huff | Director of Technical Operations | OTA Management LLC

Office: 914-460-4039
mhuff at ox.com | www.ox.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+mhuff=ox.com at nanog.org> On Behalf Of Sean Donelan
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2021 12:38 PM
To: nanog at nanog.org
Subject: Never push the Big Red Button (New York City subway failure)

NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT RAIL CONTROL CENTER POWER
OUTAGE ISSUE ON AUGUST 29, 2021
Key Findings
September 8, 2021

https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2021-09/WSP_Key_Findings_Summary-for_release.pdf

Key Findings
[...]

3. Based on the electrical equipment log readings and the manufacturer’s 
official assessment, it was determined that the most likely cause of RCC 
shutdown was the “Emergency Power Off” button being manually activated.

Secondary Findings

1. The “Emergency Power Off” button did not have a protective cover at the 
time of the shutdown or the following WSP investigation.

[...]
Mitigation Steps

1. Set up the electrical equipment Control and Communication systems 
properly to stay active so that personnel can monitor RCC electrical 
system operations.

[...]