MTA supervisor on track for punishment for toting trash on passenger subway trains
BY PETE DONOHUE / DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011, 4:00 AM
Trash bags are piled on a 6 train, being transported between stations. The MTA is disciplining the supervisor responsible for the incident.
A subway supervisor is getting trashed for using a subway train with passengers to move garbage picked up by a cleaning crew.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is taking disciplinary action against the work gang supervisor and is giving other staffers a refresher via a memo on the proper ways to handle and dispose of refuse, the agency said.
"We can't state strongly enough that refuse is absolutely not to be stored or transported on passenger trains," the agency said.
MTA spokesman Charles Seaton wouldn't identify the supervisor or the discipline he's facing.
The agency launched an investigation in response to Daily News inquiries about bags of garbage on trains last week. A photograph shows bags piled at one end of a No.6 train car.
The garbage was collected from the tracks at the 59th St. station, the agency said. It should have been carried to the street for pickup by an MTA truck, Seaton said.
Apparently to save time, the supervisor directed that the trash be moved by train to a storage area adjacent to a platform at the 42nd St. station, where a work train makes regular stops.
"This was not done with the knowledge or acquiescence of any senior manager," Seaton said. "This is a complete no-no."
A transit worker told The News that he's seen leaking, stinking bags of garbage on trains, to the disgust of passengers.
The authority uses eight flatbed trains and a small fleet of trucks to collect about 90,000 tons of trash from stations every day.
Using passenger trains to move garbage is not widespread but does happen from time to time, said Marvin Holland of Transport Workers Union Local 100. "I have seen supervisors order cleaners to place garbage bags on passenger trains for transportation to a storage facility," Holland said. "It's a health and safety issue for passengers, and our members will not do it unless specifically ordered by supervision."
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