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Transit Worker Killed By E Train At 46th Street Station In Astoria
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 24, 2013
Modified Apr 24, 2013
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 24, 2013
Modified Apr 24, 2013
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Earlier this morning, a man was fatally struck by a northbound E train at 46th Street and Broadway in Astoria. It turns out the victim was a transit worker.
Police say they received a call at 3:23 a.m. about someone being struck by the train. Passengers felt and heard a thump; one told WCBS 2, "A lot of the firefighters were trying to look under the train. The victim was under the train — he wasn’t exposed." Another said to WABC 7, "They stopped the train, and the cops told us to get out. They didn't tell us anything like what happened, they just wanted to move everybody as quickly as possible."
The victim, a 58-year-old, was pronounced dead at the scene and trains were delayed during the investigation (but are back to normal now). According to NBC New York, he "was part of a crew finishing up some work on the tracks." Update The MTA issued a statement:
At 3:21 this morning, a signal maintainer who had been working on the system was fatally struck by a Parsons-Archer-bound E train entering the 46th Street station in Queens. We are in the process of notifying all of his family members and will not identify him until that process is complete. An intensive investigation into the circumstances of his death is underway, and this incident will be the subject of a formal board of inquiry by the New York City Transit Office of System Safety.
This morning’s tragic incident was the first death of an MTA New York City Transit worker on the job since Maintenance Supervisor James Knell fell onto an exposed third rail April 26, 2010. It was the first incident in which a worker was fatally struck by a train since track worker Marvin Franklin was killed April 29, 2007.
In 2007, two transit workers were killed by trains, one at Columbus Circle and one at Hoyt-Schermerhorn. Two months ago, the Daily News had a story about the Transit Workers Union's efforts to maintain worker safety—the death of Marvin Franklin at Hoyt-Schermerhorn was the last transit worker death by train, making it "the second-longest stretch without a employee death by train since 1946, according to the authority, which doesn’t have reliable records earlier than that. A transit official said Sunday: '2,112 days and counting.'"
Tagged
astoria
fatally struck by train
queens
subway fatality
transit worker death
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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