PASSING THE BUCKS
MTA wants new agency to run East Side Access project
Arriving soon 10 stories beneath Grand Central Terminal: Another layer of MTA bureaucracy.
Top brass at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority want to create a new agency to run the East Side Access project, which will bring Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central.
The new LIRR platforms beneath Grand Central — which have taken decades to plan, fund and build — are scheduled to open by the end of 2022.
When the project opens, the new platforms will require cleaning and maintenance workers, and the 8 miles of tunneled tracks leading to and from the platforms will require crews to maintain them.
In a request for proposals seeking contractors to run the new tracks and platforms, the MTA said it “intends to create a new subsidiary agency that will be responsible for the oversight and contract management of the service provider.”
Transit officials said adding a new layer to the MTA’s dizzying bureaucracy to manage the new station would save up to $50 million a year.
The MTA already has subsidiaries for NYC Transit, which runs the city’s subways and buses; the Long Island Rail Road;
Metro-North Railroad; Bridges and Tunnels, and its construction department.
If the MTA does not create a new subsidiary, officials said the entire authority would be classified as railroad, which would bring higher costs and more regulations under the federal Railway Labor Act.
MTA board member Norman Brown said that justification was shaky.
“We see nothing in this project that would force the MTA to be subject to the Railway Labor Act,” said Brown. “This is something we and management disagree on, and we’re trying to find a way to resolve this issue.”
MTA leaders until this week planned to hold a vote on the creation of the new subsidiary at the agency’s Wednesday board meeting, but pulled the proposal off the table after board members and labor leaders raised concerns. Transit officials said they’ll try to pass it later in the year.
Rachael Fauss, an analyst at the good-government group Reinvent Albany, questioned why the MTA would add another subsidiary when officials have for the past two years executed a plan to consolidate the agency’s functions.
“It means much less accountability for the public,” said Fauss. “What impact does this have on the budget? We know East Side
Access when it’s turned on is going to be operating at a deficit. Is this a way to shift the deficit off LIRR’s books to a subsidiary, and does it make it harder to follow the money?”
By issuing a request for proposals from outside contractors, the MTA made clear it is not intent on using its in-house workers to run the new facility.
Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen fears the new subsidiary could also provide a way for the MTA to bypass collective bargaining agreements with its unions.
“They’re trying to use it as a bargaining chip to get LIRR unions to agree to a second, lower tier of workers,” said Samuelsen. “It sets a dangerous precedent.
“If they do this, they could privatize the management of the new Second Ave. subway stations planned for East Harlem,” Samuelsen added. “And then you’d have private companies only interested in profits doing the maintenance work. It could be disastrous for riders.”
MTA officials insist they are just trying to do right by riders.
“[W]e want to ensure New Yorkers get the first-class operation they deserve, similar to the new Moynihan Station and other top-tier facilities nationwide,” said MTA spokesman Ken Lovett. “We will be negotiating with our labor partners to get that done.”