A secret 'man cave' underneath a train station where workers would “hang out and get drunk and party” has been uncovered by transport bosses.
The hideaway beneath New York’s Grand Central Terminal had a television, a refrigerator to store beers, a microwave and a even a futon couch so workers could kick back or have a cheeky snooze.
A wireman, a carpenter foreman and an electrical foreman suspected of converting the storage room into the illicit 'social club' have been suspended without pay.
All three denied ever having been in the room but investigators say they’d left their fingerprints behind, and the evidence that they used the underground hangout was “overwhelming.”
An Amazon streaming device attached to the TV had the carpenter foreman’s mobile hotspot on its list of available Wi-Fi networks, and was registered to the electrical foreman.
The electrical foreman's name was also on a pull-up bar box and two 2018 datebooks found in the room, investigators claim.
They also claim a receipt with the wireman’s name printed on it was found inside an air mattress box in the room.
Flabbergasted managers at Metro-North Railroad said they were unaware of the hideaway beneath Track 114.
Carolyn Pokorny, MTA Inspector General, said in a news release: “Many a New Yorker has fantasised about kicking back with a cold beer in a prime piece of Manhattan real estate — especially one this close to good transportation.
“But few would have the chutzpah to commandeer a secret room beneath Grand Central Terminal.”
The hideaway was discovered after the MTA’s office of the inspector general received an anonymous tip in February 2019 saying that there was a “man cave” under Grand Central with “a couch and a flat screen TV” where three specific employees would “hang out and get drunk and party”.
According to the reports, MTA investigators found the hideaway had wooden cabinets designed to conceal the TV and futon.
Railroad officials said the space was a fire risk because rescue workers would have had difficulty accessing an unmapped room if there was an emergency..
