NEW YORK — Mary Anderson lives in Flushing and takes the Long Island Rail Road into Manhattan several times a month to see a play or go to dinner. She used to walk from her house to the Broadway station at Northern Boulevard and 163rd Street, but in recent years she has often driven a mile to the Auburndale station, even though it is farther from Manhattan, according to the New York Times.
“The Broadway station is deplorable,” she said. “There are huge cracks in the concrete steps that go up to the platform. And the tunnel that goes under the tracks is very smelly.”
Ms. Anderson’s assessment was confirmed by the city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr. In a March 15 report on the city’s 40 railroad stations, he said the Broadway station had broken concrete and puddles of water on the platform, as well as a platform shelter with “protruding rusty nails” and missing plexiglass.
The audit also faulted conditions at the Murray Hill station, at the East New York station in Brooklyn, and at five Metro-North stations in the Bronx. Inspectors for the comptroller visited the stations last summer.
New Yorkers, Mr. Thompson said, should get more for their money from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs both railroads. “Given that the city paid the authority over $65 million last year for station maintenance, I am appalled by the conditions cited,” he said.
But an authority spokesman, Tom Kelly, said the report needlessly scared the public.
“The Broadway station is slated for renovation,” he said. “And the East New York station has a big vandalism problem. We try to do repairs as quickly as possible. To say we’re ignoring this is absurd.”
State Senator Frank Padavan of Queens also criticized the comptroller for “not doing his homework.” He said the state had funneled more than $25 million to the authority over the past 10 years to renovate some Queens stations. The Little Neck, Douglaston, Bayside and Auburndale stations have been refurbished and Broadway is next.
“A construction trailer just set up at the station,” he said, adding that he was seeking state money for the Murray Hill station.
Ms. Anderson looks forward to walking to the train again, but added: “They should have done Murray Hill and Broadway first. They’re in the worst possible shape.”