Subway riders in Queens are freaked out by the sight of zip ties seemingly holding together railroad tracks on a section of the A line.
The discovery comes as the MTA is set to announce massive changes to its capital projects plan at the MTA Board meeting Wednesday, in the wake of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s indefinite pause on congestion pricing, which was to have helped fund subway improvements.
The middle track at the A line’s Rockaway Boulevard station in Ozone Park, Queens is wrapped in zip ties, which from the platform appear to be girding the track’s structural integrity.
“It looks funny,” said A train rider Sandra Brando as she waited on the eastbound platform. “Like something is gonna break or something.”
One rider, Far Rockaway resident Elsa Bolanos, said she has seen the zip ties for some time, lamenting that the tracks “could be dangerous” and the ride is sometimes bumpy.
“It’s been there for a while,” said Bolanos. “I don’t know how long exactly.”
A track worker on site said the zip ties are to prevent wooden railroad ties from splintering and falling to the street below ahead of planned track work. The MTA confirmed that answer in speaking with amNewYork Metro; the agency says zip ties are commonly used as temporary protection before more permanent repairs can be made.
Even so, seeing the zip ties on the tracks at the 109-year-old train station still didn’t sit well with riders, even when told of the work plans, because it reinforced a perception that the system is in disrepair.
“I would have to take their word for it, even though I personally see this is a faulty mistake that could go wrong at any moment,” said local resident Nicholas, who declined to give his last name. “I mean judging by how it is and how old it is…I can see this definitely breaking off in some time.”
The MTA is currently in triage mode as it seeks to identify the most urgent repair needs to prioritize as it takes a red pen to its $55 billion capital plan — which now has a $15 billion hole due to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing.
MTA development honcho Tim Mulligan is set to give a presentation to the MTA Board on Wednesday outlining the cuts that need to be made to the MTA capital program, potentially including halting the Second Avenue Subway expansion and plans to modernize subway signals and make stations accessible for disabled New Yorkers. It could also leave many “state-of-good-repair” projects in the aging subway system on ice for now.
The pause on congestion pricing is also expected to impact service reliability. The MTA will likely now have to spend forward on paying back debt earlier, agency finance honchos said Monday, hitting the agency’s operating budget for running subway and bus service as well as payroll.
