The Thrill is Gone: NYC's Newest Subway Station Is Leaking

The 34th Street-Hudson Yards station opened to great fanfare last September. The first new subway station in over 25 years, it's meant to do great things — namely, anchor the city's redevelopment of the far West Side.

So it's a bit of the buzzkill for the agency to have the crown jewel of the system be described in the press as a mess. Specifically, "a crumbling hot mess," "a disgusting, moldy mess," or a just plain "watery mess."

Icicles on the ceiling of the escalator shaft at the 7 Line Station @ 34th St-Hudson Yards #mta #subway pic.twitter.com/Gm5n7nb8Qz

— Tokyo Skater (@TKYSK8R) February 13, 2016

MTA Capital Construction president Dr. Michael Horodniceanu put it more pragmatically at the agency's recent board meeting:

"The fact that we have leaks is evidence that the waterproofing system is not performing as intended," he said Monday, adding that the agency knew about leaks as long ago as the summer of 2012 and directed its subcontracter, Yonkers Contracting Company, to remediate them. 

He added that the material Yonkers had used to waterproof the station was different than the one the MTA had specified, "but it was believed to be equal."

Now, Horodniceanu said, Yonkers is hiring (and paying for) a specialty subcontractor to fix the problem.

End of conversation? Not hardly.

"I was listening carefully," said MTA board member Jonathan Ballan, "and I didn't fully understand why, with new construction, they couldn't figure out how to construct something that didn't leak." Questioning the MTA's choice to allow Yonkers to use a different material, he added "There should be an option that works. There should be no other option. It shouldn't be trial-and-error for $2 billion."

(More like $2.4 billion.) 

Several more minutes of tense discussion followed, with Horodiceanu verbally throwing up his hands. "Water travels," he said. "So if we have a hole in one place, it'll travel and it'll show up in a different place."

"With all due respect, Doctor, anyone who's ever owned a house knows that," snapped Ballan.

Meanwhile, other board members were doing the slow burn.

"The agency looks foolish," said Allen Cappelli, "and I'm not at all satisfied with the responses that I've gotten here today."

"I kind of learned about this in Gothamist," said Polly Trottenberg, who also is the city's transportation commissioner. "I think it'd be really helpful to have more information right now...we're just going on what's in the papers. That's not good for any of us."

And about that comment Horodniceanu made, saying the MTA knew the station was leaking in 2012? Fernando Ferrer, the board's normally jovial vice chair, said icily "I warrant you, no member of this committee knew, and no board member knew. And that is a problem."

MTA CEO Tom Prendergast told board members he would direct the agency's independent engineer to conduct a review. "The primary concern that I have," he said, "is not who shot John, or who did what to whom, as much as what did we know and what actions did we take with respect to trying to correct the conditions that existed there."