The MTA Inspector General has found (PDF of report) that several critical parts of the transit system have not been inspected for years, increasing "the risk of serious structural failure."
Specifically, exposed parts of the transit system, like the above-ground J and 7 trains, have not been structurally inspected for years. The reports states that "while it is certainly disturbing that inspection records for some critical structures are many years old, there are other structures for which inspection records do not even exist."
In another scary revelation, the report found that the abandoned lower level of the 9th Avenue Station in Brooklyn, which used to be the terminus of the Culver Shuttle until it was deactivated in 1975, had not been inspected regularly, even though it supports the very active upper portion of the station (where the D still stops). The report states that the MTA has "known for decades that the structure was in need of repair but had not corrected the
conditions."
While the report stops short of saying commuters are in any serious danger, it does find that serious action must be taken by the MTA to "ensure that the nature, extent, and frequency of its structural inspections best promote safety, effectiveness, and efficiency."
Gene Russianoff, the staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, says, "Like most subway riders, the Straphangers Campaign is alarmed by the disarray found by the MTA Inspector General in the way MTA New York CIty Transit inspects many of its elevated and support structures... To their credit, transit officials have admitted the problem and are in basic agreement with the report's findings. We hope that the next review finds substantial improvements and that the subways receive the funds ineeded to get the system to a state of good repair."
