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Transport Union Joins Skeptics of Subway Shutdown |
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Posted by SLRT on Thu Jan 29 10:21:49 2015 Permalink Transport Union Joins Skeptics of Subway Shutdown Union Wants a Plan to Keep New York’s Subway Running [picture] An empty platform at the 59th Street-Columbus Circle subway station in Manhattan. The York City subway system was closed late Monday for the first time for a snowstorm. Photo: Peter Foley for The Wall Street Journal By Andrew Tangel Jan. 28, 2015 8:51 p.m. ET The union representing workers who run the New York City subway joined skeptics of Monday’s decision to shut down the nation’s largest transit system before a threatened blizzard. Train operators and other employees believe they could have kept much of the system running even if this week’s snowstorm had turned out to be the historic blizzard forecasters predicted, according to Transport Workers Union Local 100 officials. John Samuelsen, the union local’s president, on Wednesday called upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to develop a plan that might keep at least underground portions of the subway running even if a blizzard’s snow, wind and ice hobbled service on the system’s aboveground tracks. "We don’t believe a blizzard necessitates the full shutdown of the system," Mr. Samuelsen said in an interview. Mr. Samuelsen said he planned to raise the issue with Tom Prendergast, the MTA’s chairman, this week. "There needs to be a frank conversation about whether the approach that was taken can be modified to have the system running even under the worst conditions," Mr. Samuelsen said, adding that he understood the chairman’s concerns for recommending the shutdown in light of dire forecasts. An MTA spokesman said the authority was open to considering changes to its winter plans and had already begun a thorough internal review of its response to this week’s storm The subway shutdown, which the MTA said was the first due to a snowstorm in the system’s 111-year history, has drawn widespread criticism. On Tuesday, Mr. Prendergast said he recommended a full shutdown of the system to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as forecasts indicated the storm could dump 2 feet of snow or more on the city, bring dangerous winds and reduce visibility. The system closed at 11 p.m. Monday before reopening the next morning after the blizzard threat fizzled. The MTA chairman cited his experience running the authority’s New York City Transit division in 2010, when a late December blizzard stranded more than 30 subway trains and 600 buses. That blizzard led the MTA to develop a new winter operations road map for severe snowstorms dubbed “Plan V.” The plan outlines how the MTA subway service would be “thinned out to accommodate the possibility of the strategic closures of outdoor line segments” in a snow emergency, but stops short of addressing a full-scale shutdown. "We don’t believe a blizzard necessitates the full shutdown…" The MTA spokesman said the plan was intended as a set of guidelines, but wasn't prescriptive. The plan outlines how the MTA would prepare for a severe snowstorm and then scale back service if trains get stranded, signals or switches fail or ice builds up on third rails, for example. Another union official said train crews expected to keep the system running. Shutting down the entire subway also made it tougher for workers who run the system’s towers, maintain signals and run trains to restart service, Mr. Samuelsen said. Some subway employees had hoped to remain at their posts even after their shifts, but the MTA sent them home, said Mr. Samuelsen, making it difficult for them to get back to work. |
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