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QUEENS WEEKLY, MARCH 24, 2019
Queens trains crumble, but MTA touts progress
Authority says improvements are on the fast track, but more debris falls off local elevated lines
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BY MARK HALLUM
The MTA revealed on
March 18 vast service
improvements over last
year’s numbers in February
with subways and
buses either on or near
schedule due to the Subway
Action Plan and another
initiative to raise
the speed limit of trains
to meet deadlines.
But while service may
be improving, a different
kind of concern is
now broadening across
Queens: falling debris
from the 7 train trestle
in Long Island City and
Woodside, and now the A
train in Ozone Park.
New York City Transit
President Andy Byford
said that trains are now
meeting an average ontime
performance of 75
percent compared to last
year which only saw a
rating of 60 percent which
they attributed partly to
the implementation of
the Subway Action Plan
drafted by former MTA
Chair Joe Lhota to remove
debris from tracks
and tackle other seemingly
small issues that
cause trains to stall.
“We are now seeing
numbers that show consistent
and sustained
improvements resulting
from the Subway Action
Plan and Save Safe Seconds,”
Byford said. “Our
ability to reduce our major
daily incidents is resulting
in fewer delays,
faster trains, and an
overall better experience
for our customers.”
Meanwhile, Patrick
Tsang took to social
media on March 15 in a
Twitter post when he exhibited
a chunk of metal
that had fallen onto his
car while passing over
the Sunnyside Yard on
Queens Boulevard and
other incident in Richmond
Hill on Monday
when a woman’s car was
dented by a bolt.
“We obviously take
any report like this seriously
and sent a team
to investigate. We didn’t
find anything abnormal
at the scene – there was
no debris on the ground,
the track was inspected
from both sides and all
components were found
to be secure. Our systemwide
inspection of all elevated
track structures
continues,” an MTA
spokesman said.
The MTA said they
also examined the area
where Tsang’s car was
struck and found nothing
out of place.
The agency
claimed that workers
walk all elevated track
twice a week, and
conducts annual
inspections.
Councilman Jimmy
Van Bramer has called
for protective netting
to be hung under the
tracks to keep the public
safe from any
future incidents.
After two separate incidents
in late February
and early March where
the windshield of a car
driving down Roosevelt
Avenue near 61st Street
– Woodside Station was
speared by a wooden
beam through the windshield
and another where
a rusted piece of metal
landed near another at in
the immediate area, QNS
documented the level of
decay at the station.
The 2015-2019 Capital
Plan lists the station
as being in a state of
good repair with $34.8
million committed to
different projects at
station pertaining to
electronic equipment.
A study from the Citizens
Budget Commission
listed the Woodside Station
among the 33 worst
out of the 472 stations in
the system citywide.
Read more on
QNS.com.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at
mhallum@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4564.
A rusting girder on the 7 line in Woodside. Photo: Mark Hallum/TIMESLEDGER
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