Well it’s official now. If you are a subway track worker, it’s time to take out a little extra life insurance. By the look of things, it is a complete miracle every time you guys make it out of there alive.
You’ve basically got 4 different fault points at any given time where you could die on the tracks. They are: You’re own mistakes, Your supervisor not doing their job, the train drivers not obeying signals, or a technology failure.
Two workers in Queens were nearly mowed down by a train that failed to stop at red signal on September 6th. The Daily News just found out about this open investigation.
Apparently, the men were working as per usual. The supervisor was working along side them, which seems like a nice thing to do, but he should have been SUPERVISING. Why? Because a train decided to blow through a red signal just down the tracks from where they were working.
You’ve probably seen a tripper before and didn’t even know it. It looks like a little arm that lifts up just after a train leaves the station (pictured above). It’s usually covered in black soot except for the top which is painted yellow. Then after the train gets far enough down the tracks, it lowers. If there were to be a runaway train, the tripper would hit the emergency brakes of the train as it rolls by.
That’s what saved the supervisor’s life. The other track workers said he completely froze as the train approached. He just stood there. The tripper hit the emergency brakes, and the train stopped 75 feet away!
“The supervisor was not supervising. He was working and not in tune with keeping us safe,” the second worker wrote in his report of the incident. [Daily News]
So really, what chance could you really stand?
[Photo via Flickr]
SUBWAYblogger 
where do I begin, Daniel Boggs was my Brother-In-Law, and since he was killed it seems things down in the tunnels are just getting worse. How many more have to be killed by negligence in order for the powers that be to get it right. When I saw the article in yesterday’s paper re: the near miss it was all I could do not to be sick! Why is this continuing to happen? Why is Danny Dead? Has nothing been learned from Danny’s Death? These are questions I would like answered for myself for Danny’s Widow his 3 Beautiful children his Dad and his Brothers…perhaps one day we will get an answer till then I pary for the Woman and Men who work down in the tunnels may you always be safe.
Maureen
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I am a track worker, I’ve been on the tracks since 1988. I knew Danny Boggs since he started working for Transit. He was always speaking up about safety and fairness on the job. May he rest in peace.
Since the deaths of Danny and Marvin Franklin things are pretty much the same. The same rules with small changes to them. The big difference in the way things are being done now is, New york City Transit has shifted thier vicious labor relations team from harrassing the worker to harrassing the supervisors. Still no RADIOS no WARNING SYSTEM no FIRST-AID KITS or people trained to use them.
Like Danny most of us love this job. It gives us some satisfaction to know most people think we’re crazy. It definately is one of if not the most dangerous civil service job. The fact that there are not more fatalities is because we are safety concious. Would a radio have saved Danny? YES, if the supervisor knew the dispatcher was sending a late train down he could have warned Danny or stopped him altogether.
Thank you Maureen for your prayers and Know your family will be in mine. I carry a prayer card from Danny’s and Marvin’s wakes in my helmet every night.
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