Williamsburg Subway Crash Spotlights Maintenance Deferrals, Budget Cuts
The Straphangers Campaign and the New York City Transit Riders Council wrote this week to the New York State Public Transportation Safety Board requesting a comprehensive review of New York City Transit's overall maintenance and inspection procedures for car equipment and track and signals. The letter was written in the wake of Monday's Williamsburg Bridge subway crash, and said that the groups "were particularly concerned as to whether past and current cutbacks in staff and resources for maintenance and inspection contributed in any way" to the accident. The letter notes that between 1989 and 1992, NYC Transit "eliminated 3,105 positions to meet budget shortfalls and reconfigure its operations. According to Local 100 of the Transport Workers of America, signal maintenance staff were cut by 400 since the mid-1980s and signal inspection cycles doubled from 30 to 60 days."NYC Transit's adoption of $113 million in service cuts this past February contained more than $11 million in maintenance related cuts, including reduction of materials, staff, maintenance monitoring programs and extension of maintenance cycles from 60 to 90 days on some lines.
A federal safety probe of NYC Transit maintenance operations in the early 1980s amid high incidence of subway fires spurred changes in Transit policies for litter control, track cleaning and public education.
A Wednesday NY Newsday editorial noted that "this crash comes at a time of severe cutbacks in both the operating and capital budgets for the Transit Authority. So it's fair to ask: Is the TA spending enough on maintenance? And has the TA delayed improvements that could improve safety?"
