A bipartisan plea: Billions for subways
NEXT STOP: “Court Street.”
Straphangers injured and stuck on a train that derailed Tuesday in Harlem are lining up to sue the MTA after their mornings were made a living hell.
Dozens of passengers were hurt — and hundreds more scared out of their wits — when a loose rail caused a packed southbound A train to jump the tracks and careen into a wall at Harlem’s 125th St. station as rush hour came to a close.
Among terror-stricken commuters was Sheena Tucker, 31, who is preparing a $5 million notice of claim against the agency for the ordeal that she said left her with injuries and anxiety.
Tucker, who lives in Harlem, was in either the second or third car from the back of the train when she heard what she thought was a bomb go off.
“I thought I was going to die,” Tucker told the Daily News. “I thought it was a terrorist attack.”
Tucker had been on her way to a doctor’s appointment at Roosevelt Hospital when she was injured in the derailment.
“I got trampled on, pushed and trampled on some more,” Tucker said. “I fell down. Everyone was frantic. People were trying to break the glass to get out. I started videotaping what was going on as everyone tried to calm down and waited for directions.
“I am not getting on the MTA anymore. I’m not going to take any trains anymore. I’m so serious. I’m so scared and that’s how I travel everywhere. No more.
She added: “When I got out I had to take myself to the hospital. I was in so much pain. No one was there to take me to the hospital. The bus pulled up and dropped me at St. Luke’s Hospital. I have injuries to my spine. I’m in excruciating pain. The doctors gave me morphine. I have to have a follow up visit to make sure everything is OK.”
Tucker’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said the MTA needs to get its act together.
“It’s time for the talking to stop and the MTA to get the work done to make the trains safe for the people of our city,” Rubenstein said. “The MTA owes that to all New Yorkers. It is unacceptable to have as many derailments as we have had.”
Also injured on the train was Rocio Delances, who said she was heading downtown to her stock clerk job on Delancey St.
Delances was in the last train car when she heard a loud explosion and felt a sudden jerk when the train came to an abrupt stop.
Delances, 41, said an elderly woman fell over her and the two banged heads. Moments later, smoke filled the car, and she had trouble breathing.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it home,” Delances said. “I tried calling my family but there was no signal. We tried opening the doors, the windows, anything. I was worried for my life. We spent quite a bit of time in there.”
Despite her ordeal, Delances, who also plans to sue, still managed to make it to work, which she said was a mistake.
“My manager noticed I wasn’t in a condition to work,” she said. “I think the response from the MTA was very slow, and we spent way too much time in there, 30 to 40 minutes in a train full of smoke. It’s just too long and unacceptable. I’m not sure I’m going to continue to take the train, but I’m looking into other alternatives.” ALBANY — A liberal former state lawmaker and a conservative fiscal watchdog have joined forces — calling on the state to redirect billions of dollars in unspent legal settlement money to help fix the subways.
Former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester County) and E.J. McMahon, of the pro-free-market Empire Center for Public Policy, sent a letter outlining the idea to Gov. Cuomo, legislative leaders and new MTA Chairman Joe Lhota.
“With this letter, we are suggesting action well within your practical abilities to help swiftly address the financial needs of the system, even as the more time-consuming engineering and construction challenges are worked out,” Brodsky and McMahon wrote.
The two said that half of the $10 billion the state received since 2014 as part of legal settlements with the financial sector has yet to be spent, though much of it has been committed to noninfrastructure uses, including $2 billion for a variety of upstate economic development projects.
Brodsky and McMahon are suggesting the state redirect at least $4 billion of the remaining funds to create an “Emergency Repair and Maintenance Program” divided between needed New York City transit upgrades and highway and bridge work in the rest of the state.
“It is essential that such a program be focused on bringing these systems to a ‘state of good repair,’ ” they wrote. “However desirable system improvements may be . . . it is now obvious that fundamental maintenance and replacement activities have been short of what is required to ensure that the New York City subway system can reliably serve a growing ridership,” the two wrote in the letter.
The letter comes at a time of when the subway system has been plagued by delays and other problems.
“As the governor previously said, the current state of the system is unacceptable and New Yorkers deserve better,” Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever said. “Joe Lhota is a proven manager and the state will provide the MTA with the support it needs to address the fundamental issues plaguing the system.”