According to the article they had access to a heated bathroom at the train station. They should also have been able to get a drink there. There was some heat on the trains, but it was feeble.

It is winter and has been very cold for weeks, probably most peops were wearing winter coats, scarves, gloves and hats. Would have been a good time for people to huddle.

Would not have been pleasant but it could have been a lot worse.

Once upon a time when a DC morning forecast of flurries turned into a foot of snow by early afternoon, I lived in Virginia and had to make it home via Metro (subway) and bus. Took six hours to go six miles. The trains were screwed up above ground and then our bus jack-knifed a mile from my place and we were left on our own to walk on the unplowed road. I had gone to work that morning wearing flats and nylons. Just as I was contemplating curling up in a snow drift to die, a woman I had never met pulled over and offered me a lift.

Never again trusted a forecast, especially not in the winter. Yet I haven't been carrying chemical and warmers in my purse. That would be a good plan -- hours of heat that takes little space.


Men would walk onto the platforms connecting subway cars and urinate onto the tracks. Eventually, the train workers allowed passengers into the bathroom inside the train station. When it turned out that bathroom was heated, it caused a commotion.

"One woman came back and said, 'Oh my God, the bathroom is SO warm,'" Mullen said. She was very excited. But the station had no heated space where the passengers could wait out the storm.

Twice, passengers called 911 and the Fire Department of New York responded. Passengers begged the emergency responders to take them away, but they were told they had to stay put, Mullen said.