6 Skipping Stops in Manhattan?

[Patrick A.]

Been commuting from 23rd St to Wall St/Bowling Green for work since July and had a bizarre experience this morning.
Arrived at 23rd/Lex 6 station around 9am with the next train arriving in 8 minutes. Thought it strange for such a gap in service considering it was rush hour. 8 minutes pass and train approaching announcement begins, stops and says that this train will not be stopping and next train is in 5 minutes. Sure enough train crawls through and doesn't stop, leaving a full platform of straphangers confused. 5 minutes pass and the process repeats with another 6 train not stopping at 23rd st. Finally another few minutes pass and a packed train arrives with very few 23rd st riders able to board.

My question is why would 2 in service( there were passengers aboard) 6 trains be slipping stops in Manhattan?

[ExCon90]

I wasn't there, but since nobody has responded yet I can offer this: On many transit systems, when a major interruption in service occurs (and in New York in rush hour any interruption can quickly become major), a critical task when things get moving again is to close the gap as soon as possible by running the first train (and maybe one or two more) to the end of the line nonstop to avoid having a big gap in service in the opposing direction. It may be that once the problem was sorted out and a train was able to be sent out, an announcement was made: "This train nonstop to Brooklyn Bridge." The train would then load up and run nonstop to Brooklyn Bridge (and perhaps so would another train or two behind it) in order to have equipment available to receive northbound passengers at Brooklyn Bridge and points north without losing any more time than necessary. It would run the local track because there's nothing ahead of it -- that's the problem, and the express track would be needed for expresses making express stops -- and would probably slow to a walking pace while passing occupied platforms; the last thing they want to do is hit the elbow or shoulder of someone standing on a crowded platform. The train that stopped at 23rd St. might have been the third or fourth that began running after the obstruction was cleared.

[Fan Railer]

This phenomenon is known as a battery run. Control orders certain trains to skip certain stops to close gaps in service intervals that may have resulted from other delays up the line.

[railfan365]

I have several times experienced a 6 train skipping stops to catch up on the schedule when running late.

[chuchubob]

The announcements stated that the stations were being skipped because of signal problems.

[4400Washboard]

6 trains skip stations all the time, usually if there is a massive distance between trains. Any other occurrences would be because of track work, signals crapping out and other problems.

[railfan365]

I've experienced it many times - when there are heavy volumes of passengers and trains are delayed by the mob scenes of passengers fighting with each other to get in and out, some trains will skip stations to expedite restoring the schedule.