Report: Parts Of Subway Long Overdue For Safety Inspections
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Some parts of the subway system are long overdue for safety inspection, according to an audit report by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's inspector general.
The auditors failed to find records of recent inspection for critical parts of the system, including defects like a rusted girder at the 111th Street station, the report said.
EXTRA: Read The Full Report
Also overdue for inspection are brick ceilings similar to the one that collapsed at the 181st Street station and those with damaged or loose ceiling panels like those at the Bowling Green station, according to the report.
The report also found that five elevated structures in Brooklyn, lack any record of close up examination.
They include the A, C, 2, 3 And L lines.
Another five soaring structures on 7 line in Queens haven't been inspected up close since 1997, the report found.
Report: Parts Of Subway Long Overdue For Safety Inspections
Gene Russianoff, the staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, said in a system over 100 years old, that's troubling information.
"Elevated structures going without inspection for decades can eventually put the riders and transit workers at risk," Russianoff told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond.
"NYC Transit must promptly ensure that all of its critical structures either pass inspection or are on the path to prompt repair and it must dedicate the labor and other resources necessary to ensure regular and timely inspection of these structures in the future," the report said.
The report said the lack of inspections increase the risk of structural failure, but it didn't say riders were in danger.
An MTA spokesman said the agency is aggressively intensifying their inspection program to the satisfaction of the IG.
Russianoff said he is taking a wait and see approach.
"Trust but verify," he told Diamond.
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