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Last month, when hundreds of commuters were stranded and every numbered line and the L were taken offline for an hour, the MTA was quick to point the finger at Con-Edison, who had suffered a brief power surge. this night. But a review by two independent engineering companies reveals that someone at MTA’s rail control center, the MTA’s nerve center, just pressed the wrong button.
It turns out that the button’s plastic cover was missing, which may have made it easier to accidentally press that vital power button, according to two independent reviewers.
While the August 29 power outage lasted just over an hour, around 550 passengers from stranded trains had to be evacuated, a process that took four hours. The process was made more difficult when passengers on a few trains self-evacuated, forcing the MTA to check all tunnels to make sure everyone was out.
“New Yorkers deserve absolute confidence in a fully functioning subway system, and it is our duty to restore that confidence,” Governor Kathy Hochul, who ordered the independent review of the incident, wrote on Friday in a statement. “I also lead the MTA to review all operations control centers throughout the system to identify any other potential weaknesses and provide assurance that such a situation will never happen again. We will provide the modernization. , the upgrades and reliability riders deserve. “
The independent reviews were conducted by two firms, HDR and WSP, which reached similar conclusions and recommendations.
While the source of the power outage was identified as someone pushing a power button, the reason it took 84 minutes to restore power was more of a systematic outage.
“Inadequate organizational structure for maintenance at the RCC (Rail Control Center). The lack of a direct line of command and guidelines on prioritizing restoration activities leads to uncoordinated food restoration action, ”the HDR report revealed. “The lack of a proper electrical distribution monitoring system, providing visibility into the condition of key electrical components in the electrical distribution system,” was also to blame, according to the report.
MTA interim chairman Janno Lieber endorsed the recommendations and agreed to make short- and long-term changes.
The agency will also install additional cable connections to improve power redundancy in the building, as well as a more comprehensive building management system that will provide detailed visibility into the condition of electrical, mechanical distribution systems. and building safety, “Lieber wrote in” I want to thank Governor Hochul for really digging into these issues with us and helping to identify lasting solutions. “
Lieber was chosen by Governor Cuomo to lead the day-to-day operations of the agency, while former interim transit president Sarah Feinberg was to lead the MTA board of directors, but the legislature of the State never approved this change, so Lieber is currently chairman and CEO of the MTA.
Hochul has pledged to weed out the Cuomo loyalists who were named in the attorney general’s report on harassment from his administration. Lieber has not been named and so far appears to have a friendly relationship with Hochul, appearing together several times since taking office as governor last month, from the MTA’s power outage to press conferences in post-Ida recovery.
Next week, the MTA board of directors will meet for the first time since Governor Cuomo stepped down.
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