The February edition of the MTA’s monthly television show, Transit Transit (Saturdays, 3:30 p.m., WNYE 25) , has a segment about Marvin Franklin, the NYC Transit Authority track inspector who was killed last year in an on the job accident in Brooklyn. The piece talks with some artists who knew Franklin and his co-workers and covers the opening of an exhibition of his work at the New York City Transit Museum in December. In case......

Amitai Plasse has been sketching his fellow straphangers for 11 years now, and has just begun getting his portraits online. His goal, he tells us, is to "try and capture the characters and scenes I encounter every day on my travels." These remind us of faster-paced versions of what Marvin Franklin, the late subway track inspector/artist, had been creating all of his years underground. At least no one is going to try to ban......

In April of this year Marvin Franklin, a subway track inspector, was struck and killed by a G train. It quickly came to light that Franklin, who had worked underground for 22 years, was also an accomplished artist. He held an arts degree from FIT and dreamed of opening his own gallery one day, giving the proceeds to the homeless (which he once was, and who were frequent subjects in his sketchbooks). Franklin's art......

The supervisor on duty for the group of men at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station when track worker Marvin Franklin was killed by a G train has been demoted to the position of cleaner, in lieu of being fired. Investigators found that superintendent Lloyd London was the individual most culpable for the death of 55-year-old trackwork veteran Franklin, after he told two workers that he would stand as a lookout at the end of the station, but......

The NYC Transit Authority issued a report about separate incidents that led to two track worker fatalities in April. According to the NY Times, much of the blame is placed on an "organizational culture" where "critical safety rules were not practiced in day-to-day operations." On April 24, Daniel Boggs was hit by a southbound 3 train at the Columbus Circle station when he was in the down express tracks of the 1/2/3 line. The 3......

Two men risked their own lives just two hours ago, (around 1 PM) to save a disoriented stranger who fell onto subway tracks in Brooklyn. Apparently, an unkempt-looking (presumably homeless) man fell onto the tracks at the elevated F line stop at 9th St. and 4th Ave. He appeared disoriented and unable to extricate himself from the very real hazard he was in, so two strangers jumped onto the tracks and walked the man......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a stabbing at the 41st Precinct House in the Bronx, a homicide on Parkhill Ave. on Staten Island, and a double shooting on East 113th St. in Manhattan. Forget aluminum bats, a Staten Island mom is suing her son's former Little League coach for not teaching the then-12-year-old how to slide correctly. The Daily News interviews Jeffrey Hill, the track worker injured by the train that killed his co-worker......

Reader Steve said he heard a rumor that the NYC Transit Authority was "testing some type of new device that detects trains and warns workers via a clip on unit." And it turns out the rumor was true. The Post reports that the MTA started testing the ProTracker. This is how the ProTran1, which makes it, describes the device:The ProTran1 ProTracker Train Transceiver is designed to be mounted in the cab of a train and......

Last Sunday, subway track inspector Marvin Franklin was struck and killed by a G train at Brooklyn's Hoyt-Schermerhorn station. He was buried yesterday in Queens after a service where family and friends remembered a generous friend with an artist's soul and a compassionate heart. His ex-wife was the minister who eulogized him. His current wife, three children, five sisters, and four brothers were all present. Michael Williams, a neighbor and co-worker who would drive to......

What makes the death of two subway track workers in as many weeks so stunning, especially to those who work for the subway, is the relative rarity of such events and increased safety of their jobs in recent history. Transit worker Daniel Boggs was killed by an express train while working on the tracks at Columbus Circle's station on April 24th. Just a few days later, Marvin Franklin was killed by a G train at......

After two transit-worker deaths in five days, NYC Transit Authority President Howard Roberts wrote what the NY Times called an "emotional letter" to the thousands of transit workers. Referring to his 20-year career in the United States Army, the transit president, Howard H. Roberts Jr., recalled the time he served as a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division, where staying alive was a matter of following safety rules. “The only difference between being a paratrooper......

The NYC Transit Authority continued its investigation of Sunday's fatal accident involving a track worker and an oncoming G train. "Non-essential" track work has been suspended as the agency looks at its safety protocol. NYC Transit Authority president Howard Roberts suggested work should have been suspended earlier, given that another transit worker was killed last week, "If I had any idea we would be here this afternoon on this subject, clearly we would have......

A subway transit worker was killed and another was seriously injured when a G train hit them at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station yesterday afternoon. It seems that Marvin Franklin, a 22-year-veteran, was fatally hit when he and 37-year-old Jeffrey Hill went to pick up a dolly on another track. The G train's operator did see the men, but could not brake in time; Franklin was dragged by the train, while Hill was hit but is......