MTA Discloses Major Problems - And Disasters Averted For Now

It's good to know that these problems were caught before they turned into major disasters. One problem was a retaining wall along a subway line in Brooklyn, which has major structural deficiencies. The other is a utility vault room under Manhattan's Grand Hyatt hotel that could have collapsed leading to a major disaster.

While the sprawling system is operating 24/7, making repairs on minor issues is the only way to stay ahead of problems before they become hazardous. Even still, the MTA is not able to stay ahead of the problems because it is continually shifting resources from preventative maintenance and rehabilitation of stations to handle operating costs. This problem is also present in the NJ Transit system (which just increased fares).

The more significant seems to be the retaining wall in Brooklyn, which is 18 feet high and dates to 1914. Early last year, workers found that a 350-foot section of the wall, between 63rd and 64th Streets along the northbound track east of the New Utrecht Avenue station, had moved several inches toward the track.

The wall had major horizontal and vertical cracks, and deteriorated concrete had broken off. The authority took temporary measures promptly, but the wall continued to shift.

Over the last two weekends, workers installed braces against the wall. Under a $539,000 contract approved on Wednesday, Judlau Contracting of College Point, Queens, will install 60-foot struts across the tracks, pressing against the walls on either side.

The agency will eventually award a $10 million contract to stabilize walls along the line, said Mike Kyriacou, a design manager in the department of capital program management at New York City Transit. He said the agency regularly inspected its walls and had not found serious problems elsewhere.

The poor condition of the wall did not surprise its neighbors. "The wall's falling down, no two ways about it," said Paul Sagar, 59, a construction worker whose backyard faces the tracks.

The vault - a metal structure that holds an array of electrical conduits - is in a steam room beneath the Grand Hyatt at East 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, but is part of the Grand Central Terminal complex, which is directly west of the hotel and is the terminus of the Metro-North Railroad.

In April, a contractor discovered that the 20-ton electrical utility vault had partly collapsed. The vault is suspended by steel supports, several of which had snapped. Two remaining supports and a steel catwalk handrail were keeping the vault from fully collapsing.