Sharp Eyed Motorman Saves The Day

There are many thankless jobs in NYC that do not get the recognition they deserve. One of those jobs happens to be a motorman for the MTA’s NYC Subway. The job is held my thousands who have thousands of lives in their hand every single day with the sole purpose of getting them from “Point A” to “Point B”. While these workers enjoy their job, they try to avoid the nightmare scenario that can play out at a moment’s notice & at any place. The scenario is of running over someone on the tracks, a scenario that can haunt them for the rest of their lives & sadly has done just that to many.

Most times when a motorman sees someone on the trackbed, it is usually next to impossible to stop the train in time to prevent the person from getting run over. When they do run over them, the result is usually a body bag coming into play as we had another number to the tally. Thankfully this past Friday we did not add another number to the tally & it is all due to a sharp eyed motorman who stopped his train on time to spare another man’s life. James Queally and Jonathan Lemire of the New York Daily News have the happy story:

Subway motorman Eugene Hart did two things when he spotted a man on the tracks Friday morning.

He slammed on the brakes. And he started to pray.

“It seemed like I had a chance not to hit him,” Hart told the Daily News. “I kept saying, ‘Please don’t, please don’t.'”

His prayer was answered.

The 370-ton train came to a screeching halt just a few feet short of where diabetic straphanger William Meyer had collapsed onto the tracks at the Herald Square station.

Peering down from his cab in the front car, Hart couldn’t tell that at first.

Seconds felt like hours as he tried to determine whether the well-dressed man wound up under his downtown V train.

“I’m searching the train…I’m searching the tracks,” said Hart, who has been an MTA motorman for 20 years. “I see the blood, but I don’t see the guy.”

Click here for the complete story.

Let me take this moment to congratulate MTA Motormen Eugene Hart for his quick thinking & reflexes that helped save Mr. Meyer’s life. Transit Blogger salutes you!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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