The MTA could be doing a “faster and cheaper” job of protecting the subway system from a terror attack, and has failed to focus on the system’s most vulnerable spots, such as the East River tunnels, a former transit engineer said yesterday.
“The only thing they are worried about are specific stations, not tunnels and signals,” said Mel Levy, a retired engineer at the Transit Authority, which runs city buses and subways. “They’re not focusing on places where the most damage can be done.”
Levy, 72, who worked with the TA for 35 years, said he was troubled last month when he learned the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the TA’s parent agency, would be spending $100 million to develop a security program.
“This process will take time – and there is no time,” he said.
Levy said he contacted the TA last month and offered his services for free, but never got a call back.
“I don’t need a job,” he said. “I just felt it was my duty to help.”
MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said shoring up the agency’s infrastructure is “not something that can be done in-house.”
Levy, who has identified several “vulnerable spots” in the system, said one way to protect tunnels would be to bolt subway windows shut. “That would stop anyone from tossing a bomb into a tunnel from the train.”