Audit: New York City Transit puts track workers at risk

According to an audit by the Federal Transit Administration, New York City Transit is failing to follow its own safety protocols, resulting in dangerous and even deadly conditions for track workers.

It follows the death of track worker Hilarion Joseph near Herald Square in late November. He was struck by an express train as he flagged down oncoming trains and warned that work was being done, officials said.

“My brother was very happy to work there,” said his sister Angela Joseph. “He was very cheerful and excited.”

As the first anniversary of the death of Joseph, a father of six, approaches, his sister says the MTA should install cameras to ensure worker safety.

“It’s a very dangerous job. They know that. The MTA knows that,” she said. “That’s why they have to put those body cameras in the tunnel.”

The FTA’s audit and instruction also mentions a worker who experienced a serious strike at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in June.

In total, there were 38 near misses in 2023, 58% more than the previous year. These are incidents in which a worker could have been hit. And in 19 of the 38 incidents, the agency did not follow its own procedures.

Incidents included trains running red signals and opening doors on the wrong side of the subway car.

Acting Transit President Demetrius Crichlow wrote a letter to the FTA stating that they would appeal the orders.

“We strongly disagree with FTA’s view that NYCT has been in any way negligent when it comes to the safety of track workers, one of our top priorities,” he wrote.

Crichlow pointed out that comparing the year-on-year increase in incidents was unfair because less work had been done during the pandemic and the 38 near misses represented 0.03% of the work done along the tracks.

But John Samuelson, international president of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), says this just shows that the MTA is putting performance above safety.

“Under Janno Lieber, the MTA placed a high priority on train punctuality and less on worker safety,” Samuelson said.

He believes that the work can be done safely without interrupting operations, but that his members should not be carrying out such work at this time.

“There is no chance, absolutely no chance, that a TA chief – even with pressure exerted downward from MTA headquarters – should have the ability to force a track worker to follow a work instruction that compromises job safety and not be able to go home to his family in one piece,” Samuelson said.

That didn’t happen with Joseph.

“Every time I get on the train, he comes back to me,” his sister said. “Because this shouldn’t have happened.”

The audit also criticized the New York State Public Transportation Safety Board for not adequately overseeing the MTA. Meanwhile, Joseph’s death and the incident in which a track worker was struck in June are still being investigated by the NTSB.