Objective

To assess the extent of implementation of the 18 recommendations included in our initial audit report, Signal Maintenance, Inspection, and Testing (Report 2017-S-6).

About the Program

New York City Transit’s (NYCT) Department of Subways’ (Subways) Maintenance of Way division has eight operating subdivisions, including Electrical, which is responsible for Power and Signals. Subway track is divided into sections for maintenance purposes. As of January 15, 2020, Subways reported that the signal system had 45,001 signal devices divided among 121 section locations. NYCT employs Signal Maintainers, who are responsible for the maintenance, inspection, and testing (MIT) of the equipment at their assigned section locations.

Signal maintenance is critical in preventing subway delays. MIT work is performed based on predetermined intervals, and each section location has a logbook that Signal Maintainers use to record MIT work, including: a description of the device, the interval in which the MIT should be performed, each test/task performed, and the date that the MIT was performed. When work is completed, information from the logbook is entered into the Integrated Signals’ Equipment Information System and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Signals’ internal database. The EAM system, still under development, will capture real-time testing and maintenance through hand-held devices.

In 1991, Congress directed the Federal Transit Administration to establish a State Safety Oversight Program. In New York State, it is the Public Transportation Safety Board (PTSB) that reviews and approves NYCT’s System Safety Program Plan (SSPP), which outlines when MIT is required. NYCT is required to review the SSPP annually, and any modifications must be submitted to the PTSB for review and approval.

Our initial audit report, issued on October 17, 2018, examined whether NYCT performed signal MIT in compliance with federal, State, agency, and manufacturer standards. We found that Signals did not always perform MIT of its signal equipment within the required intervals. For example, at Howard Beach and Pelham, 450 of the 1,280 MIT activities (35 percent) required from January 1, 2015 to May 16, 2017 were not done within the required intervals. We found that 39,194 of the annual inspections (76 percent) were late, and identified 2,345 devices that were on the Signal Device Master List but were not inspected by a Supervisor during this period. Moreover, NYCT is required to review the SSPP annually, and any modifications must be submitted to the PTSB for review and approval. However, NYCT did not update its SSPP for at least one of the Task Codes we examined.

Signals also did not have an inventory system to account for all of the equipment (units) it maintains, despite the significant investment it represents. For example, we selected three device categories and, based on data from NYCT, estimated the value of this equipment to be approximately $235 million. NYCT officials advised us at the time that the EAM system would also manage inventory, but would take about three years to complete.

Key Finding

NYCT has made progress in addressing the issues we identified in the initial audit. Of the 18 audit recommendations, three were implemented, ten were partially implemented and five were not implemented.

Key Recommendation

Officials are given 30 days after the issuance of the follow-up report to provide information on any actions that are planned to address the unresolved issues discussed in this report.