MTA Employees Get Emergency Training Drills

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Sept. 30 that it began emergency response and security training for 28,000 employees.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: 'Gives us needed tools.'

"We have a responsibility to train our men and women for potential emergencies," MTA Executive Director and CEO Elliot G. Sander said in a statement.

Communication Key

Workers are learning skills in communication during crises as well as identifying suspicious activities, the authority said. Of those trained, 24,000 are from New York City Transit. The rest are from Long Island Railroad, Metro-North Railroad and MTA Bus.

The curriculum for the training was designed and will be administered by the National Transit Institute at Rutgers University and the EAI Corporation. Training funding will come from the MTA.

"It's heartening to see the MTA finally take a common-sense approach to terrorism in our transit system," Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint said in an MTA-issued statement. "For too long, we have stood by ourselves in demanding that transit workers are trained to react and respond to the dangers they face on the job every day. This initiative gives our members some of the tools they need to face the new reality of our transit system after 9/11."