RTO Mourns Work Train Operator Alain Walker, 54; Dies of Coronavirus

Alain Walker and his wife, Michelle
Alain Walker and his wife, Michelle

Train Operator Alain Walker spent his entire career in New York City Transit, starting as a Station Agent at the age of 25, then moving on to Conductor and then becoming a Train Operator. He leaves three children, Amayah, 18, Tyraun, 25, and Kendall, 32, to mourn him, as well as his loving wife, Michelle.

His friend, Work Train Operator Quinton Montgomery, said, “he was right behind me. We worked together all the time. He was a good dude, good at his job. He loved his family.”

“We argued. About everything. All the time. Once we were both sitting in the cab of a work train and arguing so fiercely that a TSS came over to see what was going on. Alain told him to get lost. Another time I wasn’t at the 36th Street Yard, but another worker started talking against me. Alain opened up his mouth and said, “why are you talking about the dude when he’s not here?”

Wife Michelle said her husband felt sick at work on April 13th and was hospitalized shortly thereafter. He passed away on May 19th at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, Long Island.

“He loved to travel, and he loved to barbecue,” she remembers. “He liked restaurants, loved baseball and football. And he loved spending time with me and his daughter.

“He told me that he had a good union at work, and that everyone at work was solid. He loved the job. In fact, it was hard for me to get him to take a day off.”