Particle.news
Download on the App Store
8 ARTICLES
·
last wk.

FTA Gives MTA 30 Days to Revise Worker-Safety Plan or Risk 25% Funding Cut

Federal regulators rejected NYCT’s second risk assessment as understating recent hazards, requiring a third submission that incorporates 2024 data.

A subway train runs on snow-covered tracks during a snowfall in New York City, U.S., February 6, 2025. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/File Photo
Image
A train pulls into the Cortlandt Street station in Lower Manhattan.
MTA workers repair tracks at a 125th St. subway station in Harlem on June 28, 2017. (Anthony DelMundo / New York Daily News)

Overview

  • Chief Safety Officer Joe DeLorenzo issued a final warning that no fourth assessment will be permitted after the required third submission.
  • The FTA faults NYCT for excluding 2024 incidents and diluting risk through an 11-year average, directing updates to exposure metrics and probability classifications.
  • Near-miss events for track workers rose to 38 in 2023 from 24 in 2022 and 23 in 2021, following a 2023 fatality and a serious injury in 2024.
  • Enforcement could include withholding up to 25% of federal transit funds, directing the use of federal dollars to fix deficiencies, or imposing operational restrictions.
  • MTA leaders call the action punitive and link it to congestion pricing disputes, while Transport Workers Union officials endorse the federal push for stronger protections.