A pair of uptown trains got stuck at the Canal St. N, Q, R, W station Wednesday morning, jamming up service for nearly two hours.
Sources tell the Daily News that the mess began as an uptown Q train’s emergency brakes activated while it was pulling out of the Chinatown station shortly before 9:20 a.m.
The train crew tried to recharge the air-brake system in order to release the emergency brake, but was unable to, ultimately finding a ruptured line in one of the compressed-air systems.
The MTA began to reroute N and Q service through the Montague St. tunnel and up the R line — until an uptown R train tripped its emergency brakes near the Canal St. platform on a faulty signal in a seemingly unrelated incident.
With no way uptown, N, Q, R and W trains were ordered to hold at subway stations until one of the two affected tracks could be cleared.
The stopped R train was ultimately able to recharge its brakes and proceed uptown, a source told The News, clearing a path for uptown service on all four lines.
Meanwhile, according to a passenger on the stranded Q train, the train crew began evacuating passengers back onto the platform through the two rear cars around 9:50 a.m.
The passenger, who told The News he’d been riding in the train’s first car when the brakes engaged, estimated it took him another 25 minutes to get off the train.
An MTA spokesman told The News that the train car with the damaged brake line has been removed from service on that Q train, and the incident remains under investigation.
Service along the N and Q lines through Canal St. resumed at 10:55 a.m.