The fire at the Hall signal tower that has severely curtailed LIRR service started, according to the MTA, when rain water served as a conductor for an electricity surge, and the irony of it, as I explored yesterday, is that a computerized signal system is set to go online in November. It comes as no surprise then that The Post notes that this signal system should have been activated years ago.
In a piece that explores the nature of the fire and its ramifications, three Post reporters comment on the signal upgrade efforts: “It’s unlikely a similar fire would have caused such mayhem if the parent MTA had implemented on time and on budget a new microprocessor-based system designed to replace the near-century-old system that failed…It’s three years late and 167 percent over budget.” This development is an unsurprisingly one in the annals of MTA projects. Few major transit works have been completed on time or on budget, and at some point, someone — the comptroller, an external auditor, the MTA itself — should tell us why rampant delays and cost overruns have become the accepted norm. For now, we’ll just wait for the LIRR to close the barn door after the horse already escaped.
8 comments
All these State audits later, it’s still the same old, same old. That’s how effective the State audits are as a management tool.
Well with the state and city continually taking money away from something already underfunded, you need to do another audit every few years just to figure out how badly the state has screwed the MTA, again and again and again. Otherwise all you can use is a visual inspection of our failing transit system. And that’s not empirical.
Maybe they should have the MTA audit the state instead of vice versa, then.
“Rampant delays and cost overruns” are pretty much a fact of life in any urban American endeavor that’s largely driven by politics and the inevitable absence of anyone taking any responsibility for anything.
Nevertheless, as a rule I would I trust the MTA’s word over anything the state would say – if only because it’s a level of government that’s “closer to the people” and therefore ever-so-slightly more responsive to them.
I also have more trust in the MTA than the state (but no more trust than tomorrow). But when there are citizens blaming the MTA rather than the state, their loyalty is to the state, no matter how much the MTA can be justifiable.
Audits, audits, so much bureaucracy. And would an auditor with any political ties to government find any wrongdoing by the state? I wouldn’t count on it. But would it do any good for the MTA to air its own dirty laundry? With low public opinions, I doubt it.
This has nothing to do with funding at this point, and everything to do with the state’s refusal to stand up and take responsibility – or at least divest itself of responsibility so somebody else (that really just leaves the city) can take it.
What no one gets is how impotent the MTA truly is. Like I keep saying, the state has the power to mandate almost any reform you can think of: work rules, labor contracts, financing, unions, funding, capital improvement, management structure, etc., etc., etc.. It also has the power to devolve those powers to the city, and let it become a local political problem (which I don’t think is a half bad idea, myself), or to the MTA, and let management take the blame for reforms. About the only thing it can’t do is impair current contracts, which will expire eventually, or tread on areas of federal responsibility (e.g., dumb FRA regulations, a concern for the RRs but not NYCTA).
Anyway, it’s safe to conclude that the legislature IS the problem, not the city, MTA, or TWU.
“Anyway, it’s safe to conclude that the legislature IS the problem, not the city, MTA, or TWU.”
I think it was safe to conclude that a long time ago based on extrinsic evidence about the legislature. 😛
Maybe if the Dems manage to kick out the corrupt “gang of Four” *and* keep Bruno’s Republican stooges from retaking control for their own pocket-lining purposes, the State Senate will get some responsible leadership. We can dream.
[…] to bring a modernized switching system online three years ago, and the replacement project was 167 percent over budget. Had the project been on time, the fire wouldn’t have knocked out most LIRR service for a […]