The New York Times (known for its hostility to labor unions — hahahaha actually known for the opposite) wrote the article referenced in this piece: https://www.

The New York Times (known for its hostility to labor unions — hahahaha actually known for the opposite) wrote the article referenced in this piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-... In this article, they bring in the guy in charge of Crossrail (which runs right through Central London, at one point going between two existing transit lines with about a meter clearance on each side.) His first reaction was, perhaps, much like the first reaction of any casual observer would be: "What are all these people doing here just standing around?" NYC union rules still require oilers on cranes (because it's still 1930 or something and our cranes all need the constant attention of someone resupplying their oil) and the union is paid a big fee for every tunnel boring machine, to compensate them for all the jobs lost (relative to half a century ago). Of course, the MTA station design principles (mentioned elsewhere in this thread) do not help, excavating large caverns via mining, and the MTA doesn't know how to run a large program effectively and maintain good relations with its contractors, and of course there are a variety of exciting reported cases where the MTA doesn't even know why a person on the construction site is there or getting paid to begin with, so there's plenty of disaster to go around. Either way it works to the same result: we can't have nice things in this town.