Plants growing through the roof: MTA watchdog finds two Bronx subway repair shops in dangerous disrepair

Two Bronx shops where subway cars for the 1, 2 and 5 lines are inspected and repaired have roofs so deteriorated that plants are growing through them, water is leaking onto electrical equipment and chunks of concrete have fallen from the ceiling, according to an audit released Monday by the Office of the MTA Inspector General.

The report says years of missed warnings, inaccurate condition ratings and unclear reporting lines kept the repairs out of one capital plan after another. NYC Transit agreed with all three of the watchdog's recommendations.

What the inspectors found

• East 180th Street Maintenance Shop (2 and 5 trains): vegetation growing through holes in the roof and leaks above the electrical distribution room, which the OIG says puts workers at risk of an arc flash and could cut power to the shop. Water also damaged the boiler room, bathrooms and locker rooms, and a former superintendent told investigators the mezzanine level was condemned. For about 15 years, water has dripped onto the electrical bus of an overhead crane used to swap train air-conditioning units, so workers sometimes could not use it when it rained.
• 240th Street Maintenance Shop (1 train): plants across the concrete sawtooth roof, rusting rebar and concrete falling from the ceiling in several places. Staff consider parts of the roof unsafe to walk on, so they cannot inspect it. NYC Transit's car equipment division proposed rebuilding the roof repeatedly since 1984, and a 2002 survey documented severe damage, but no capital plan in those 40 years paid for it. Gothamist reports the low ceiling also keeps the shop from taking the newest subway cars.

The OIG started looking after it saw the East 180th Street roof during a routine meeting in July 2024, then visited nine of NYC Transit's 37 facilities in that asset category in 2024 and 2025. The two Bronx shops were the ones in visibly bad condition. The others checked were the Cozine, Coney Island and Pitkin shops in Brooklyn, the Pelham and Tiffany shops in the Bronx, Jamaica in Queens and the 148th Street HVAC shop in Manhattan.

Why the repairs kept slipping

The condition ratings NYC Transit created in 2022 for its 20-year needs assessment and the 2025-2029 capital plan understated the damage at East 180th Street, Pitkin and Pelham, the audit found. Many inspections were done by facility staff without training in evaluating roofs, workers did not always know whom to tell about structural damage, and these buildings lacked the standardized assessments the MTA uses for subway stations.

"It is unacceptable that these roofs have been allowed to deteriorate so severely that vegetation is growing and major cracks are visible, despite years of requests for critical repairs," Inspector General Daniel Cort said in a statement published by Gothamist and Bronx.com.

What happens now

The current capital plan includes a roof replacement at East 180th Street and design work for a new roof at 240th Street, according to the report, and crews made temporary repairs at both shops after the OIG raised the problems. NYC Transit's Division of Facilities has funding to hire more than 100 workers, including dedicated roofers. MTA spokesperson Michael Cortez told Gothamist the in-house roof team has completed seven repairs and a new capital construction team will take on more roof and structural work. Gothamist notes the capital plan sets aside nearly $2 billion over five years to upgrade some of the system's 70 train yards.

The OIG recommended standardized condition assessments for maintenance facilities, clear instructions for staff on reporting roof and structural damage, and recording employee safety hazards in project profiles so they count when capital money is divided up.