NEW YORK, NY May 27, 2009 —Dozens of running boards along the edges of subway platforms have been falling apart, according to a new independent report, and the MTA failed to keep track of which ones needed to be repaired until recently.

During a year-long investigation, MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger found that 70 percent of the time, inspectors gave passing grades to running boards that should have been repaired immediately.

KLUGER: You had one inspector calling it a poor and one calling it a fair and they're looking at the exact same condition, the same picture, the same rubbing board.

Kluger began his investigation after the running board at the Kings Highway station on the Q line in Brooklyn collapsed when a teenage boy stepped on it in January 2008.

Transit officials agreed to train inspectors to identify safety conditions consistently after Kluger raised the issue last fall. Officials say they have temporarily repaired all hazardous running boards and will make those fixes permanent by the end of the year.