MTA Inspector says that the LIRR construction jobs are going to take too long and cost too much money to fix. Click below for the story.
They’ve been working on the railroad, but taking their sweet time.
Long Island Rail Road construction crews reported to work late, left early and dragged out the jobs, according to a damning report by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspector general’s office.
On one project, workers took 115 days to demolish and replace a staircase at the Great Neck station — three times what it should have taken, according to the report released Wednesday.
Workers even used manual backyard handyman tools instead of far more efficient power machines to demolish the staircase and to carve out post holes for replacement fencing along a 1,000-foot stretch of railway in Manhassett.
As a result, the LIRR’s labor cost for the staircase was $261,000 when it should only have cost $98,000.
The inspector general, which looked at three projects in detail, found a near-complete lack of oversight and planning in the Structural Maintenance Division.
Riders at Great Neck were outraged, although some weren’t completely surprised.
“That staircase took forever,” said Jermaine Harris, 39, a textile worker from Harlem. “I would see workers just sitting around, wasting time.”
Claudine West, a home health aide who commutes to L.I. from East Flatbush, complained that riders like her are being forced to pay for such wastefulness through higher fares. The MTA’s next hike hits in March.
“I can’t believe that much money was wasted on a staircase,” West, 42, said. “Why should the consumer suffer for their incompetence?”
The inspector general’s review revealed that LIRR supervisors in the Structural Maintenance Division didn’t use schedules, budgets or status reports to plan and monitor projects. These employees managed 82 employees, who worked in five or six-person crews.
Members of the Great Neck crew frequently claimed to have “worked through lunch” — a sacrifice that earned them time-and-a-half in overtime for the 30-minute periods. LIRR managers acknowleged workers would rarely have had a reason for working through lunch, according to the report.
“In the absence of these essential project management and reporting tools, managers and supervisors can not adequately plan the work, control the costs, take remedial action in timely fashion, or fully explain why projects are not completed in a reasonable time,” Inspector General Barry Kluger said.
The LIRR agreed with the report’s findings and recommendations, reinforcing the belief that the flaws uncovered are “systemic” and not isolated to a few division projects, Kluger said.
LIRR officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
