Audit Report on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Maintenance of Metro-North Railroad Stations Within the City

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was created in 1965 by the State of New York to maintain and improve commuter transportation and related services within the Metropolitan Transportation Commuter District—the City of New York, as well as Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties. The New York State Public Authorities Law (NYSPAL) requires that each local government unit reimburse the MTA for the cost of maintenance, use, and operation of passenger stations within its each local government’s boundaries.

This audit reviewed Metro-North’s maintenance operations and the conditions of its City Stations. The MTA bill for both Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) City Stations for the period April 1, 2004, to March 31, 2005, totaled $73,879,843. We are conducting a separate audit—#FN06-062A—of LIRR City Stations. The results of that audit will be covered in a separate report.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

Our review of MTA maintenance operations for Metro-North’s City Stations disclosed that three stations—Melrose, Tremont, and Wakefield—were undergoing capital renovations and were therefore not examined, and nine stations—Harlem-125th Street, Botanical Garden, Williams Bridge, Woodlawn, Morris Heights, University Heights, Marble Hill, Spuyten Duyvil, and Riverdale––were in good condition. However, two stations—Grand Central Terminal and Fordham—are not maintained as well as they should be and have many conditions in need of repair. These conditions included: a hole in the ceiling of the Stationmaster’s Office waiting room; water leaking from ceiling pipes onto the platforms; a circuit breaker box without its cover and three fuse boxes with opened covers; raised expansion plates on the platforms; cracked and broken glass and missing glass panes at Grand Central Terminal; broken and crumbling concrete at Fordham; and peeling paint at both stations.

Moreover, 11 of the 14 City stations had potentially dangerous conditions caused by third rails that lacked protective caps and sleeve covers. Finally, Metro-North did not always correct the problems that were indicated on inspection reports prepared by its own Customer Service and Operations Services Departments at the Botanical Garden, Fordham, and Spuyten Duyvil Stations, and the cracked and missing pieces of the platform edgeboards—the wooden strips at the edge of the platform that protects the platform’s concrete—that we noted at the Spuyten Duyvil Station did not appear on any of inspection reports for that station.

Audit Recommendations

We recommend that the MTA and Metro-North correct all unsafe and dangerous conditions immediately; replace all missing third rail caps and protective sleeve covers immediately; repair the platforms and other deteriorated structures identified in this report; clean and remove the graffiti and debris identified in this report; and, ensure that conditions identified by its inspectors are promptly corrected.

Metro-North officials responded that they agreed with the report’s recommendations and detailed the actions that have or that will be taken to remedy the conditions cited in the report.