Scathing federal audit slams MTA over subway safety procedures
MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) -- In an audit report obtained by Eyewitness News, the Federal Transit Administration accuses the MTA of sacrificing safety underground and cited a growing number of incidents in the New York City Transit System that are putting riders and workers at risk.
The FTA found 38 close calls involving transit workers, trains and riders in the subway system in 2023. That's a 58% increase from 2022 and a 65% increase from 2021.
These incidents, the report concluded, "reflect a combination of unsafe conditions and practices such that there is a substantial risk of death or personal injury that necessitates action."
The report cites the death of Hilarion Joseph, who was struck by a D Train in the Herald Square subway tunnel while cleaning the tracks last year. In June, another worker was struck and nearly killed while cleaning the tracks in Downtown Brooklyn.
What are known as "near miss" events are up more than 50% over the past two years. They are when trains pass stop signals or are switched onto the wrong track. Among the more than 200 near-miss events last year were incidents that jeopardized transit riders.
Regulators say they keep happening because the MTA is doing little to prevent them.
John Samuelsen, the International President of the Transport Workers Union, reacted to the findings:
"Well, the report affirms everything that the Transport Workers Union has been criticizing the MTA for a couple of decades now," Samuelsen said. "Except it's gotten dramatically worse over the last couple of years. They absolutely need to invest in a day to day state of good repair of the system, which leads to a safer environment for both workers and passengers. And they need to take worker safety seriously rather than worry about on time, train performance."
New York City Transit has been ordered to submit to federal monitoring.
The FTA's report also accuses the state's Public Transportation Safety Board of failing to monitor the MTA and demands stricter state oversight.
The MTA released a statement on the report, and said NYC Transit intends to appeal it. The statement said in part:
"In short, we strongly dispute FTA's view that NYCT has somehow been negligent when it comes to addressing the safety of track workers, one of our most essential priorities. The agency has extensive safety protocols covering the more than 1.5 million work tours that take place along the Right-of-Way during active service in our 24/7 subway system."
The MTA said the few Potential Employee Contacts that have occurred have been thoroughly investigated "so we can implement new or strengthen existing mitigations to prevent future incidents. These include employee reinstructions, additional training, rule amendments, increased supervision, and in appropriate cases, discipline."
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