How safe is the New York City subway?

A Manhattan congressman, who has taken the train for years, and the U.S. secretary of transportation, who rode the subway a few stops in April, drew two starkly different conclusions at a tense public meeting on Wednesday. Each man called the other a liar.

The subway is, in fact, much safer than its critics have argued, according to police figures. But detractors have latched onto a recent surge in assaults and the shocking details of a handful of high-profile crimes to paint the subway as lawless and in need of intervention.

Wednesday’s heated exchange in Washington, part of an hourslong oversight hearing, was the latest skirmish between New York officials and the Trump administration over the state of the city’s transit system.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat and a senior member of the House transportation committee, said that Sean Duffy, the head of the Transportation Department, had distorted statistics to make the subway seem more dangerous than it is.

Major crime in the subway — which includes murder, rape, assault and other felonies — was down 3 percent through June, compared with the same period last year. Since the first half of 2019, before the pandemic, major crime was down 8 percent.

In pointed questioning, Mr. Nadler asked if Mr. Duffy was aware of the trend.

“No, that’s wrong,” Mr. Duffy said, before adding that assaults, one of the most worrisome categories of crime in the subway, had risen sharply.