The Biden administration has ordered the MTA to improve safety protocols for workers laboring on its subway tracks after the death of a flagger on the job last year and a significant increase in “near-misses.”
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) launched a probe into safety practices at MTA New York City Transit, the sub-agency that runs the subway and bus, last November following the death of Hilarion Joseph, a rookie track employee who was flagging for a work crew when he was struck by a D train underground near the 34th Street-Herald Square station in Midtown Manhattan.
What the feds found, however, was an agency with a growing safety problem for its workers. The feds counted 38 separate incidents in 2023 where a worker was nearly struck by a train, up 58% from 2022 and 65% from 2021.
In half of those near-misses, the regulator found the cause to be workers’ failure to follow proper flagging procedures; this was a contributing factor not only in Joseph’s death but also in an incident in June 2024, when a track worker was left critically injured after being struck by a train near Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets in Brooklyn.
Other causes for alarm include improper radio communication, “improper roadway protection set-up,” and “train operator inattention.”
The feds also found that in 2023, near-misses for customers were up 46% from 2021 — with riders potentially endangered by such incidents as third rail explosions or doors opening on the wrong side of the train.
“FTA identified an escalating pattern of safety incidents and concerns in [New York City Transit’s] [Roadway Worker Protection] program,” read the report, “and of non-compliance with NYCT key safety rules designed to protect workers and passengers in NYCT’s operations.”
The directive, signed by FTA executive director Matthew Welbes, orders the MTA to conduct a “comprehensive safety risk assessment” for its track worker safety program within 60 days and submit to weekly monitoring of the program by the state’s Public Transportation Safety Board, among other rulings.
Should the MTA fail to follow through, the Biden administration could feasibly withhold up to 25% of the agency’s federal funding.
The Transport Workers Union, which represents NYCT’s 30,000 subway employees at the bargaining table, blasted the transit authority in response to the audit.
“The federal directives make it clear that MTA boss Janno Lieber and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul are asleep at the wheel as the agencies they control are doing nothing to address safety concerns for workers and the traveling public,” said John Samuelsen, president of TWU and a member of the MTA Board.
“Instead, the bosses resort to blaming workers when safety issues arise rather than addressing their poor management of the system,” Samuelsen continued. “The FTA directives should be a wakeup call for every transit rider in New York. We demand accountability from Lieber and Hochul in response to these damning safety findings. Lives are at stake.”
In an Aug. 14 letter addressed to Joseph DeLorenzo, the FTA’s Chief Safety Officer, NYCT interim President Demetrius Crichlow said he intends to appeal the federal decision.
He said the agency “strongly dispute[s]” the findings, citing a 99.97% “safety efficiency rate” for track work, and also faulting the FTA for issuing the directives before the National Transportation Safety Board had determined final causation for Joseph’s death, as well as the incident at Hoyt-Schermerhorn.
“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,” said Crichlow. “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.”
