Crazy train: MTA and LIRR derailed $385 million begging Hohul for help

They ride New York passengers!

Wasteful labor deals and mismanagement on the MTA’s commuter lines, mostly the Long Island Railroad, are costing vital commuter connectors nearly $400 million a year, according to an investigation by The Post.

The seven-month review comes as the MTA seeks financial assistance from Governor Kathy Hochul and state legislators to fill a budget shortfall caused by the coronavirus pandemic’s sharp drop in passenger numbers and a slow return of workers to their offices.

Extraordinary spending harms commuters and taxpayers in general in almost every conceivable way, such as:

  • This means passengers are paying some of the highest fares in the country as the MTA tries to cover losses;
  • Leads to longer waiting times and more crowded trains;
  • And railroads are consuming money that could otherwise support New York’s subway and bus service.

“The MTA is in a financial crisis, but this isn’t the first time they’ve been in a financial crisis,” said Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski (D-Rockland), the newly appointed chairman of the committee that oversees the MTA.

“And the answer may not only be new sources of income. It has to include efficiency, and it has to include the MTA looking in the mirror and figuring out why every few years it’s in a financial crisis.”

He added, “The taxpayers of this state and the taxpayers of the MTA region are not a bottomless pit.”

The Post determined that the MTA could save more than $200 million annually just by keeping the LIRR’s labor costs and efficiency in line with other major commuter railroads, Metro-North, which is the second most expensive in the country.

The huge cost difference means that Metro-North requires fewer subsidies each year than the Long Island Railroad, despite running more trains and charging slightly lower fares.

For example, a monthly pass for a 23-mile trip between North White Plains and Grand Central Terminal costs $250.25 on Metro-North; while nearly identical 24-mile trips between Hicksville and Pennsylvania Station on the LIRR cost $277.

In addition, The Post found that both railroads could save an additional $73 million a year by rethinking the toll practices of both railroads—all without violating union rules.

In addition, at least another $109 million can be found by opting for lighter, faster, more efficient trains normally operated in Europe that are approved by federal regulators for operation in the US with minor modifications.

Overall, the MTA left on the table $385 million in potential annual savings from commuter rail reforms.

That’s a quarter of the $1.6 billion the agency says is needed to balance the books of units that carry less than 10 percent of its passengers, all without cutting service.

Hundreds of pages of documents, figures and interviews reveal an extraordinary list of costs and irregularities at the LIRR, including:

  • Generous contracts that allow engineers to get paid four times for a standard shift, while conductors can easily get double paid just for working on the Metz train, even if they don’t work overtime;
  • Night or weekend track work is automatically considered overtime or double work, even if scheduled in advance, and day track crews only average five hours a day;
  • The LIRR has hundreds of unnecessary conductors and assistant conductors on a payroll that costs $130 million a year.

A union agreement struck in 2008 between the LIRR and its drivers not only required the MTA to provide every conductor and assistant conductor with a mobile phone— its provisions prohibited the administration of the LIRR do not contact employees on these phones without their prior consent until 2016.

The deal even explicitly allows them to use the devices for personal use, a stark departure from how most government agencies and private businesses operate.

“When looking at the contract, there is a nasty surprise on every page, and it is significantly worse than the MetroNorth contract,” said one former MTA official.

Two separate reports from the MTA Inspector General determined that labor agreements on the LIRR are so restrictive and expensive that it is virtually impossible to run the railroad in a cost effective manner.

These reports, obtained by The Post under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, date from 2006 and 2008, but remain relevant to this day.

They formed the basis of the 2019 review of LIRR operations, and MTA officials confirmed in response to questions from The Post that all of the major contract provisions identified in these reports valid to this day.

“The agency is committed to saving money while maintaining transit services needed for the New York region,” MTA spokesman Sean Butler said in response to questions from The Post. “Many of the operating rules referenced by The Post have been agreed upon for a long time, and some may merit revision.”

LIRR’s largest union, SMART Division 505, and its chairman, Anthony Simon, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Too many conductors

In 2012, the LIRR’s employment contracts require that there be at least one conductor and one assistant on every train with passengers. However, a few more trains could be assigned based on a formula that the MTA refused to provide.

As of the end of 2021, the LIRR had 1,392 conductors and assistant conductors, according to payroll data. But the LIRR only needs 716 to run its peak 24/7 pre-pandemic schedule, The Post found. Additional costs for wages, pensions and benefits amount to a staggering $130 million a year.

Simply aligning LIRR’s staffing with MetroNorth would reduce the number of conductors and conductor assistants to 1,035, saving $69 million.

In its statement, the MTA partly blamed the bloated staff on 170 conductors and conductor assistants assigned to construction projects, including East Side Access, which will link the LIRR to Grand Central, which is more than a decade late and $7 billion over budget.

Officials have also argued that staffing gaps will narrow when the LIRR adds new trains to its schedule to serve Grand Central Station, however this expansion has been repeatedly delayed in recent months.

Ticket holders pay

Collectively, LIRR and MetroNorth currently spend $455 million annually on salaries, pensions, and benefits for conductors and assistant conductors.

This means that nearly half of the $1 billion the MTA hopes to generate from fares on both railroads in 2023 will be spent on hiring the people whose primary job is to collect those tickets.

About the same amount, according to the MTA, is lost every year due to subway and bus fares combined, although these systems carry 14 times more passengers.

Proponents of public transport say these extraordinary costs create a major barrier to running additional trains or cutting fares. They urged the agency to install turnstiles at major stations and switch railways to electronic ticketing systems like those used by the subways.

“Other cities around the world that have a modern regional rail system are also using modern fare collection methods” — such as tapping or card swiping — “instead of two, three, four or five people on a train,” said Stephen Higashid, director Research at the Transit Center.

“A more efficient system would have more trains for employees and fewer employees collecting tickets.”

This transformation has already taken place in many major European cities. The busiest commuter rail line in Paris, the RER A, runs as frequently as many metro lines.

Trains arrive at each station via five branches every 2–10 minutes during the morning and evening hours; off-peak trains run every 7-30 minutes.

Built-in overtime

The MTA Inspector General’s report lays out in excruciating detail how generous operating rules significantly increase costs at the LIRR compared to MetroNorth, both in train operation and maintenance.

One union agreement requires the LIRR to fill every shift in every position covered by the drivers’ union at the Richmond Hill store, allowing staff to bill for up to 32 consecutive hours even when there is no work.

Auditors in 2008 used sarcastic quotes to describe the practice as “working overtime”.

But he continued: Sonders from the State Comptroller received records from Richmond Hill that showed that the LIRR paid 40 auto repairmen for 9,449 hours of work during the month, although workshop logs showed that only 1,244 hours of work were actually completed.

The LIRR disputed the fraud findings, stating that it is “confident that the employees in question have received the correct compensation for hours worked, based on management’s authorization and in accordance with their respective transaction agreement.”

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