MTA Exec Blames Contractors' Stupidity For Drill Bit Accident In Subway
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Metropolitan Transportation Authority official said the "stupidity" of contracted workers led to a giant drill bit piercing the ceiling of a subway tunnel in Queens last month.
MTA Capital Construction president Michael Horodniceanu made the comment Monday to board members, Newsday reported.
On Oct. 30, the bit, which was 10 inches across, drilled right into the subway tunnel, grazing the top of a crowded F Train car and breaking one of its windows. The drill bit did not enter the car, the MTA said.
The train stopped and another train was brought in behind it to guide the 800 people on board through the train and back to the platform at 21st Street in Long Island City, Queens.
The drill was being used on the East Side Access project that'll connect the Long Island Railroad with Grand Central Terminal.
An MTA spokesman said at the time of the incident that the workers were drilling in the right spot, but went much too deep, about 25 feet down. The subway tunnel roof is 15 feet underground and the workers should have known to stop well before the drill reached it.
Horodniceanu said the Tutor Perini Corp. workers hadn't properly flagged the drill locations.
He said it is ``hard sometimes to battle stupidity. In this case, I don't know what else to call it.''
He said Tutor Perini immediately reorganized the project's management.
The company did not respond to a comment request.
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