Here’s the dirt as ax hits rails

Get ready for a leaner and meaner subway budget — resulting in dirtier, more crowded trains.

NYC Transit President Andy Byford rolled out his proposed budget cuts at a special meeting of the MTA board’s finance committee on Monday — a meeting that started 15 minutes late because its chairman, ex-Gov. Cuomo aide Larry Schwartz, had train troubles.

Byford spun his cuts as a way to spare riders from “doomsday” reductions in service.

Transit officials will rejigger their overcrowding guidelines in order to cram more riders into trains and buses — saving a projected $40 million.

The cleaning schedule will also be trimmed so that crews only spruce up trains only once during a route — instead of cleaning the subway cars at both ends of the line.

Temperatures in the subways will be tweaked to save on energy, and Byford proposes cutting track inspections to once a week on a third of the system while outfitting a special track inspection train with a camera to fill in the gaps.

Byford defended the choices as necessary, even as he admitted they didn’t sit well with him.

“I don’t want to do any of these things,” Byford said in response to criticism of his plan.

MTA officials are facing a tough budget with a $1 billion gap in 2022.