On top of the ongoing problems with subway delays, recent derailments at Amtrak’s Penn Station have prompted the railroad to take emergency action. | AP Photo At the MTA, chaos aboveground and chaos below

There was a revolt at the MTA on Wednesday.

With its subway system in meltdown mode — and just a day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a widely ridiculed proposal to further increase his power over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, even though he already effectively controls it — the agency convened its monthly board meeting.


One after another, board members who did not owe their presence there to the governor expressed their distaste for the state of affairs under his regime.

With the MTA facing weighty problems, its board is “neutered from making decisions on behalf of the public,” said Veronica Vanterpool, a transit advocate who was appointed to the board at Mayor Bill de Blasio’s request.

She and Polly Trottenberg, de Blasio’s transportation commissioner, said they too often learn of momentous policy announcements — on which they argued they should perhaps have some say — from the press, or via press release from the governor’s office.

This was no mere proxy battle between the appointees of Cuomo and de Blasio, whose distaste for each other has come to infect innumerable aspects of government affairs.

James Vitiello, the Dutchess County representative who controls a quarter of one of the board’s 14 votes, said he found it a “bit frustrating” to have the MTA “be used for politics in increasing levels.”

By way of example, he pointed to Cuomo’s insistence that the MTA pick a fight with Amtrak over funding.

On top of the ongoing problems with subway delays, recent derailments at Amtrak’s Penn Station have prompted the railroad to take emergency action.

This summer, it will close some tracks at Penn Station to make long-needed repairs.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s NJ Transit and Cuomo’s MTA have rolled out contingency plans for riders.

In New York, those plans range from the frivolous— free food and drink at Long Island park-n-rides — to substantive changes, like creating a new fleet of ferries and buses to Manhattan.

Following in Christie’s stead, Cuomo and the MTA have also insisted that Amtrak—which experts say is chronically short on money — cover the cost of the contingency plans.

Yet both Cuomo and the MTA refuse to reveal the price tag for the contingency plans.

In response, Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman sent a letter to the MTA’s leadership on Wednesday, arguing that not only would their insistence that Amtrak foot the bill violate existing agreements between the railroads, but it would also defeat their shared purpose of repairing Penn Station.

“[I]t is unconstructiveto respond to the problems at [Penn Station] by calling for less investment by its two largest users — LIRR and NJT — who account for 80% of train operations,” Moorman wrote.

Acting MTA Executive Director Ronnie Hakim, who serves at the behest of Cuomo, responded to Moorman’s letter by suggesting she would consult with attorneys, raising the prospect of litigation.

Several non-Cuomo appointees proceeded to erupt.

A public battle with Amtrak would be “a bad thing [because] we’re married to them whether we like it or not,” said Ira Greenberg, a commuter representative who doesn’t have a vote.

Carl Weisbrod, de Blasio’s former planning commission chairman, said it would be a “big mistake” to adopt an adversarial posture at a time when more regional coordination, not less, is needed.

Andrew Saul, a Westchester County representative, condemned the governor’s unwillingness to appoint a permanent leader of the MTA to replace the one who left in January.

In a CEO’s absence, “The governor’s trying to do things which in my opinion he shouldn’t be doing,” he said.

A spokesman for Cuomo didn’t respond to a request for comment.

But there was no need.

The governor's appointees at the MTA, including real estate developer Scott Rechler, attorney Charles Moerdler and acting chairman Fernando Ferrer, did that for him.

“Without any disrespect, you may feel neutered. I never have,” Moerdler said.

Ferrer and Rechler argued strong gubernatorial involvement was a good thing.

“Let [Cuomo] put 100 percent of his political capital, his expertise, his energy, his relationships on fixing something that is immensely broken,” Rechler said.

Hakim rose to Cuomo’s defense, too. She is acting as the operational head of the MTA at the same time she’s vying for the permanent title.

Asked if that conflict might render her incapable of exercising the appropriate degree of independence on behalf of the MTA, she didn’t quite answer.

“The governor, I think, has shown great leadership by challenging the MTA to do things better, faster in a wide variety of ways,” Hakim said.

She did, however, announce that in light of the subway’s ongoing problems, she would launch a “top-to-bottom review” of the system, the latest in a series of reviews that has included an MTA Reinvention Commission and the MTA’s own capital needs assessment.

She said there was no timetable for her review’s release.