We Remember Danny Boggs; Track Worker Died in the Line of Duty
A memorial service for Track Worker Danny Boggs, who was killed by a train nine years ago, was held at the 59th St. Columbus Circle station on Monday. “Danny was a veteran,” Paul Navarro, Chairman of TWU Local 100 Track Division said, standing next to a wreath of flowers brought to the hub by the union. “He knew the job inside out. But on that day nine years ago it didn’t matter.”
Boggs, 41, the married father of three children, was hit by a train April 27, 2007 as he set up perimeter lighting for an overnight construction job on an express track at the station. The track was scheduled to be closed to train traffic at 11 p.m. for the construction project but implementation of the General Order was delayed – a development not conveyed to Boggs. He was struck at 11:20 p.m. by a No. 3 train sent through the area.
“The passage of time doesn’t make these memorials any easier,” Navarro said at the memorial service. “They certainly are not easier for Bernadette and her children."
"Some might ask, ‘Why do we keep coming back here every year?” asked Navarro. We do so because the day we stop is the day we all start taking our safety for granted. It will be the day we begin to be indifferent about the safety of our co-workers. We cannot let that happen. We can not let down our guard.” After Rabbi Harry Berkowitz said a prayer, Bernadette Boggs thanked those who came out to remember her husband. “He was a wonderful man,” she said. Bernadette was flanked by the couple’s children: Kristen, 22; Danny Jr., 18; and Valerie, 14.
Local 100 will hold another memorial 11 a.m. Friday at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn where trackworker Marvin Franklin was fatally struck by a train on April 29, 2007, just five days after Boggs’ tragic death. Franklin was 55 years old.
In photo: MTA Chaplain Rabbi Harry Berkowitz talks to family members about the events of Danny's death and his legacy. 