Democrats have run New York for almost all of the last half-century. Six out of eight mayors since 1966. Since 1992, unbroken control of the state Assembly, and 21 years of Democrat governors.
And, boy, does it show. Not least in the city’s ramshackle subway system, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which is powered by an electrical system built at the beginning of Richard Nixon’s presidency in 1968.
When electrical components fail in the substation – a common occurrence, as evidenced by burn marks on the walls – MTA Chief Superintendent Joseph Daidone searches eBay for replacements. Many of the manufacturers that once made critical equipment there went out of business decades ago, so he looks for gear from decommissioned substations around the country that’s up for online auction.
If Daidone needs to reach the outside world from 40 feet below a Harlem sidewalk, he must use a rotary phone that was installed in 1969. Younger hires often need to be instructed on how to make a call because they’ve never seen one in person.
And when something really goes wrong and electricity from the tracks needs to be isolated, Daidone grabs a stick – a little longer than a broomstick – to reach a button on the ceiling.
That’s life in a 21st century Democrat city. Critical infrastructure left to fall into ruin while funds are shunted off elsewhere.
According to the MTA’s own data, 77 out of 224 substations – including the one in Harlem – are in “poor or marginal condition” and in dire need of replacement due to decades of deferred maintenance. A minor failure at a substation can quickly delay 30 trains. A major breakdown can result in multiple substations becoming overloaded, expanding delays exponentially.
Late last year, a substation in Brooklyn exploded so spectacularly that it blew a door off its hinges and onto the tracks. And 3,500 travellers were trapped on trains in the tunnels for up to two hours, with no air conditioning. That particular substation was 90 years old.
Another substation, in Harlem, has been in constant use since the hippies were rolling in the mud at Woodstock. The MTA pumps cold water through its pipes to try and stop it overheating.
But Daidone worried the machine’s components may have rusted after so many decades of use.
“We’re all hoping that the stuff down the inside is still in great condition,” he said. “What happened in 1969? We landed on the moon.”
Modern transformers (i.e., ones built after humans walked on the Moon) use air cooling.
The MTA says it needs roughly $3 billion to upgrade electrical infrastructure, and warns that explosions like last month’s will become more frequent as the equipment ages. The request is part of the MTA’s proposed $65 billion five-year capital plan that begins this year. But state legislative leaders have rejected the plan, citing high costs. The funding is one of the big-ticket items up for debate in the legislative session that began this month in Albany. Fulfilling the plan would almost certainly require Albany lawmakers to impose new taxes.
With circuit breakers so prone to exploding, the subway system had to do something to improve safety. So, they installed asbestos around them.
The problems spread well away from the subway system itself. The MTA’s ancient equipment strains the rest of the grid surrounding it, risking blackouts for people who aren’t even using the subway.
Patrick McHugh, the senior vice president of electric operations at Con Ed [said …]
“The other portions of the grid have to pick up that load or supply that energy [when a substation fails] and therefore it puts constraints on other parts of the grid,” McHugh said. When an MTA substation goes down, it means other electrical work in the neighborhood will have to wait while the transit agency addresses the problem.
“If more and more of the equipment ages and we deal with more of these situations, it handcuffs us a bit, as well as other customers, when they need outages to do their work,” McHugh said.
The antique electrical system also means that the MTA can’t add new services as the city continues to grow. More trains means more electricity – and the system is already strained to the limit.
If the Dems’ record in California is anything to go by, the whole transit system will have to collapse and burn before anyone notices. And even then, the Democrat in power will furiously deny that there was anything wrong, anyway.
Their biggest challenge will be finding a way to blame it on climate change.
