Farewell to track worker killed earlier this week

(New York - WABC, May 5, 2007) (WABC) -- A sad goodbye today to a New York City transit worker killed on the job in Brooklyn. His death was the second in less than a week.

And as Eyewitness News reporter Stacey Sager reports, the latest accident has transit workers calling for change.

It was the end of a tragic week for New York City transit workers as they filed into the funeral in Queens for their colleague, 55-year-old, Marvin Franklin.

"He had 22 years on the job and it's just a shame that he never made it to retire," said transit worker, George Rihm.

If they seemed angry as well as grief-stricken, it is because Franklin's death in Brooklyn was the second in just five days. On April 24th at Columbus Circle, 42-year-old track worker, Daniel Boggs, was also struck and killed by a train.

"Obviously we take this with the greatest of seriousness and it's an extraordinary tragedy," said MTA Executive Director Lee Sanders. "To have two of them in one week is unbearable."

The question is why. And today for the first time since Franklin's death, his partner, who miraculously survived the accident, spoke about it. Breaking down at the funeral but emphasizing that transit workers were not taking shortcuts on their own that day. Instead, he says, they were following their supervisor's orders.

"And I heard Marvin scream out and I heard the other track workers scream out. And we wouldn't have been in that position if we weren't told to do what we were doing," said the injured transit worker, Jeff Hill. "It wouldn't have happened."

Over this past week, there was re-training and some are demanding better equipment and radios for the workers.

Also, some troubling statistics came from the MTA including a 33 percent rise over the last year in the number of homeless people living here in the subways.

Saturday morning alone, two homeless men died on the subways. The first one died on West 145th Street and Broadway. Police say the man fell between two cars on a moving train. Just hours later, another homeless man suffered a medical emergency at the Bowling Green Station.

As for the workers, they just look forward to some change. Whatever that change may be.

"You know the job.. It can be dangerous," Mr. Rihm said.

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