Off the rails
A-train accident a $3M mishap
A subway rail improperly attached to the roadbed led to 39 straphangers getting hurt, two subway cars wrecked — and the MTA on the hook for $3.4 million.
That’s the conclusion of an MTA probe into the June 27, 2017, derailment of an A train in Harlem.
Most of the expense of the crash — $3.1 million — was what it cost to replace the two cars that had to be scrapped.
The rest included $194,047 in parts and labor from the Division of Signals, $105,637 from the Division of Infrastructure and $2,144 in labor from the Division of Track.
The derailment turned a routine morning commute on wheels.
Before the accident, track crews worked to replace a 26-foot piece of rail that had a defect.
To make the fix, crews cut down a new 39-foot piece of rail to 26 feet.
But they failed to properly secure the new rail to the track bed, investigators found. They stowed the unused 13-foot piece of track and another 39-foot track section in the middle of the track bed.
The southbound A train was rolling at between 20 and 25 mph when improperly fastened rails and the loose rails on the trackbed combined to trip the train’s emergency brakes.
The wheels and motors of two train cars derailed as the train slammed into a wall.
Hundreds of straphangers were forced to evacuate through dark subway tunnels. None of the 39 people hurt in the crash suffered life-threatening injuries.
The derailment was quickly blamed on human error before the start of the rush hour. Two supervisors at the scene during the track work were suspended. The MTA did not provide an update on their suspension and employment status.
After the derailment, MTA officials checked the subway system to make sure materials were stored on the tracks safely, and that crews were instructed procedures. The Daily ws obtained report on the sh from the ate Public ansportation fety Board. The MTA also estigated two railments on the line near the ets-Willets Point tion in January 17. s found wheel flanges on bot erailed trains were so worn down, the cars slid off the tracks. Further checking revealed the flanges were worn down on half of the 7 train fleet.
Subway officials believe the flanges were worn down by a new curved section of track north of the 34th St.-Hudson Yards station that opened in September 2015, the PTSB says. MTA officials are working on a solution to that problem.
Fixing the cars and other damage of the 7 train derailments cost the MTA $50,019.
“Safety is our top priority and though these instances are very rare, any mishap is one too many,” MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said.
“The complete modernization of New York City Transit requires relentless attention to both physical assets and our procedures, and we’re laser-focused on improving both.”