By Philip Newman
Three MTA officials told a City Council public hearing last week they were confident that motorman-only trains would be safe. They said motorman-only L trains would go into operation June 19 during nights and weekends then full time in November.Kevin O'Connell, chief of the MTA Subway Division, said the decision was intended to cut costs. The MTA would save $4.2 million annually by removing more than 70 conductors, who would not lose their jobs but be given other work.But Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), chairman of the Council's Transportation Committee, said a safety drill last month in preparation for no-conductor trains “did not go well.””It's outrageous that the MTA could even think of proceeding with One Person Train Operation trains next month in light of the abysmal failure of their April 16 drill,” Liu said.Kenneth Brown, MTA director of Risk Assessment and Fire Safety, disagreed, calling the drill last month a success although it was aborted before it was completed. Transit employees acted as passengers in the simulated smoke condition emergency. Brown acknowledged the drill was ended when power was inadvertently shut down, halting two other regular trains carrying real passengers. Subway doors were also opened, which would have endangered passengers in a real life smoke emergency.”We are confident this can be carried out safely,” Brown said.”You may be confident, but I am not,” said Councilwoman Yvette Clark (D-Brooklyn), chairwoman of the Council Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services.Kevin O'Connell, director of the MTA Subway Division, said the MTA had “an unblemished record in operation of OPTO (conductorless) trains.” The Transit Authority introduced some motorman-only trains in 1998, but they have been used only on shuttles and other short routes and only at certain times of the day and night. The L-line covers 11 miles and 24 stations on its route from 14th Street to Carnarsie.Liu also pointed out that the April 16 practice drill train carried only 100 simulated passengers compared with as many as 1,000 or more passengers on many rush hour L Trains.A City Council Transportation Committee briefing paper mentions an incident on a G train shortly after the start of one-person trains in 1998.”A 21-year-old woman was raped and robbed on the train at the Smith-Ninth Street station in Brooklyn,” the briefing paper said “The attacker got off the train five stops later at Fulton Street. The woman and attacker were the only passengers on the train.””Lone train operators have themselves been the target of crime,” the briefing paper said, adding that in November 2001 a train operator had to leave his train and dash into a subway tunnel to flee perhaps 200 rampaging youths who smashed windows of subway cars and tried to break into his cab.For generations, many straphangers have ridden in the middle of trains during late night periods on the theory the conductor rides in that area, making it safer.Capt. Peter Gorman, speaking as leader of Uniformed Fire Officers, and Roger Toussaint, president of the Transit Workers Union, both said conductors were essential in directing evacuation and calming panic among passengers. Gorman said it was “insanity” to remove them.”You are not ready for one-person operation of the subway trains,” Liu told the three MTA officials. “As you aborted last month's safety drill fiasco, I ask you now to also abort this plan next month.”Reach contributing writer Philip Newman at news@timesledger or 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
