Express subway service along Central Park West was suspended last night after a train derailed.
A wheel on the last car of a southbound A train slipped off its track passing the West 81st Street station at 9:02 a.m. No injuries were reported.
Workers removed four cars, and a rescue train was backed up to the front of the derailed train, after which passengers were taken to Columbus Circle and let off.
MTA officials suspected that the cause was a broken rail, and repairs were expected to be completed overnight, said spokesman Charles Seaton.
In October 2011, two cars on a northbound No. 6 train derailed south of Canal Street. That, too, happened in the early morning, and no one was hurt.
“This is an extremely rare incident, and the cause is being investigated,” Seaton said yesterday.