NYC conductor slashed in the neck in random subway attack: ‘This is an attempted murder’

An MTA conductor was slashed in the neck in a random Brooklyn subway attack early early Thursday — snarling service on two busy lines for hours as frustrated transit workers waited for “safety reassurance” from the MTA.

The 59-year-old conductor was working the overnight shift on a southbound A train near the Rockaway Station when he was attacked just before 3:40 a.m., according to the NYPD.

The victim, identified by the Transit Workers Union as Alton Scott, was sticking his head out of the train cab window to look left and right when the suspect suddenly slashed him with an unknown object, police said.

He was taken to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in stable condition, police said.

Scott received 34 stitches and needed an additional nine sutures to close the gaping wound, transit union officials said.

“This is attempted murder,” TWU President Richard Davis said in a statement. “The wound to Mr. Scott’s neck is too close to his carotid artery. We’re at a breaking point where we can’t do our jobs safely.

“The city is in crisis and the target is on our backs,” Davis fumed. “Janno LIeber’s MTA police force of 1,000 officers must be immediately deployed to the metro NYC area. We’re facing heinous crimes and brutal assaults. Enough is enough.”

The subway system is typically patrolled by the NYPD, with MTA police officers dispatched to suburban commuter railroad stations.

The attack prompted worried transit workers to go into “standby” mode, holding up A and C train traffic for nearly two hours during the bustling Thursday morning rush hour, officials said.

MTA data shows that the disruption lasted about 90 minutes, with southbound A trains that left the northern 207 terminal at 8 a.m. being delayed until about 9:30 a.m.

C train service was snarled from about 8:30 a.m. until 10 a.m.

The MTA initially remained mum on the attack on the conductor, only acknowledging to The Post that A and C train service returned after a temporary disruption.

But at an unscheduled morning press briefing, officials called the attack on the 24-year transit veteran “a cowardly act.”

“We try to support New York, MTA subway division chief Demetrius Crichlow said. “It’s disgusting that anyone would have to deal with coming in and being in danger like this employee is.

“There’s no employee who should have to deal with this,” he said.

MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber denounced the unprovoked attack at a press conference later in the day.

“An MTA employee was attacked and the outrage of the attack just can’t be described. The cycle has to stop,” Lieber told reporters.

“People who come to work have got to be able to come to work and serve the public — these are public servants — and know that they are going to come home to their families,” he said.

Lieber said there were 43 arrests made last year for 60 assaults on MTA workers — but only 11 led to criminal indictments. The suspects in the attacks had about 600 prior busts between them, he noted.

“How can those people be out there? How can the public be confident when people who have committed crimes again and again and again are walking around and in many cases doing the same thing?” Lieber said.

No arrests have been made in the Thursday morning attack and there was no immediate word on a possible motive.

The Post reported this week that the recent surge in Big Apple subway violence came in the months after the number of cops deployed underground plummeted to levels not seen in years.

An analysis showed that crime fell by as much as 8% during past upticks in police patrols on the subways — but spiked after the show of force ended.

“We’re furious,” TWU’s Davis said when asked about the Thursday morning subway disruption. “Furious that this keeps happening to our members.

“We have a procedure that’s in our contract where our members can ask for assurances of safety before proceeding,” he added. “They asked for that and management has to be able to clear it for them to proceed.”

NYC Transit Authority President Richard Davey, however, took issue with the transit worker “standby” Thursday morning that stalled two train lines.

“The union leadership decided to put on some kind of work stoppage charade which impacted a couple of hundred thousand New Yorkers’ commute today,” Davey said.

“Now they have assured me that that conduct will no longer occur, but that doesn’t solve problems about workers’ safety,” he added.

Additional reporting by Snejana Farberov and Joe Marino