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No. 7 line to Queens cleanest subway in city

The R train is among the lines affected by the July 13 blackout.
File photo/QNS
By Philip Newman

Two Queens subway lines served as bookends for the best and worst in the latest survey of cleanliness in the city’s transit system.

The No. 7 line to Flushing has been named the cleanest subway line by the transit advocacy agency Straphangers Campaign and the R train to Forest Hills brought up the year as the dirtiest.

The Straphangers said in its annual “Shmutz” report that the number of clean subway cars throughout the system had declined between 2009 and 2010.

The report said the No.7 had 68 percent clean cars compared to the R, where 27 percent were rated as clean.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget in 2010 included reductions in the ranks of subway car cleaners with the numbers falling from 1,138 with 146 supervisors in 2009 to 1,030 and 123 supervisors last year.

Gene Russianoff, attorney for the Straphangers, said “last year we predicted more cuts to come means more dirt for subway riders. It turned out to be true.”

The most improved subway line was the M to Forest Hills, going from 32 percent clean in 2009 to 61 percent in 2010.