I couldn’t be a track worker.
Last week, I participated in a track-training class that the agency asks anyone to take if they’re going to spend any significant amount of time on or near the rails.
Hollywood actors such as John Travolta (“The Taking of Pelham 123”) and their stunt doubles have had to take the class to prepare for movies filmed in the tunnels.
But I can’t remember a more terrifying time in my life as I stood between two moving trains as part of an exercise, thinking that if I sneezed or fainted, I’d be a goner.
We walked six blocks underground on the R-train tracks between 53rd and 59th streets in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. It seemed like it would be a battle just to stay alive underground as a worker — let alone do mechanical repairs.
And I am not faint of heart.
I’ve whizzed through the traffic-choked streets of the Ugandan capital of Kampala on a motorcycle and vacationed in the country’s north, the world’s top malaria zone.
I’ve covered violent crime in some of the roughest New York City neighborhoods — and been happy to do it.
But I’ve also had a phobia about the subway tunnels ever since I witnessed a group of firefighters pull the mangled body of a man in a suit from under an uptown No. 2 train five years ago.
So, I knew it was finally time to face my fear.
“It’s all about respecting the train,” a source told me. “If you respect the train, you’ll be OK.”
First the instructor gave us a thorough rundown of the basics, and I started to relax, thinking this isn’t going to be so bad.
But the panic set in when we were shown a picture of a man who was burnt alive by the third rail and another of someone left with a mangled leg.
Later in the day, a Queens graffiti artist would be electrocuted by the third rail at a Sunset Park station — not far from where we walked the rails.
Tears started pouring down my face and light hives broke out on my neck.
A kindhearted contractor in the class took pity on me and offered his gloves. He told me they were special — that they would keep me from getting hit by the train.
After the first train whizzed past, a mere 2 feet from my face, he turned to me, and asked, “Are they working?”
I grinned at him and assured him they were.
It was enough to get me through to the end.