Two separate blackouts this week caused major disruptions across seven subway lines, bringing signal systems to a halt and sparking frustration from commuters, Governor Kathy Hochul, and the MTA.
The electrical failures, which took place at the West 4th Street station in Greenwich Village, occurred on both Wednesday and Thursday, amid extreme weather that included sweltering heat and torrential rain that led to flooding in parts of the transit system.
“For decades, the people who were in a position to do something about it failed to make the important upgrades,” Hochul stated during a Friday press conference held alongside MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber.
In remarks made Thursday, the governor said she had instructed the MTA “to undergo a full review of this week’s issues to prevent similar outages in the future.”
“We’re going to have $4 billion to upgrade aging power systems like the one at West 4th,” Hochul said, referencing the MTA’s 2025-2029 Capital Plan, which totals $68.4 billion and was included in the state’s financial framework.
Lieber pointed out that the city’s transit infrastructure is far past its prime and in desperate need of modernization.
“We’re talking about a 100-year-old electrical infrastructure—cloth-covered wires that are from our great grandparents’ era, and we just can’t live with that anymore,” he explained.
He added that the MTA is continuing to investigate the root of the failures. “We had a tough week. The riders experienced it. And we have to do better.”
{Matzav.com}
This lady is a fearless tough leader. Don’t stand in her way.