MTA pauses track work after worker killed by subway train

A subway track worker was dragged and killed by a train in Manhattan Wednesday morning, prompting the MTA to halt all non-essential track work for 24 hours, NYC Transit President Richard Davey said.

Hilarion Joseph, 57, was flagging — or alerting train operators that workers were on nearby tracks — near the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station around 12:20 a.m. when he was struck by a northbound D train, according to police. The crew he was working with was conducting routine track cleaning, according to Transport Workers Union Local 100 officials.

Joseph was transported to Bellevue Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police and union officials said an investigation is underway to determine how Joseph was struck by the train. He’d worked for the MTA for less than a year, according to Transport Workers Union Local 100.

“We obviously take employee safety seriously and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” Davey said at an MTA committee meeting Wednesday. “These are dangerous jobs that we ask our people to do day-in and day-out.”

Davey also said the work pause will be used to “refresh and retrain” MTA employees on protocols for track safety.

Local 100 Safety Director John Chiarello said Joseph was previously in the military was days away from his one-year work anniversary.

“This development has shaken our union,” Chiarello said. “This incident serves as a stark reminder of the challenges our members face each and every day.”

Chiarello described the train operator who hit Joseph as “distraught” and said she has been an operator for one year. He did not identify the operator.

The last on-duty death of an MTA worker was in 2020, when train operator Garrett Goble died of smoke inhalation as he helped passengers escape a train that was lit on fire by an arsonist.

This story has been updated with new information.