On the heels of Mayor Adams & the MTA’s subway safety plan shared in February, a new effort had been announced: adding barriers to station platforms—and the next steps to make it happen are already underway.
In a previous interview with NY1, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber shared that the transit authority will install platform doors at select stations to help prevent people from jumping or being pushed onto the subway tracks (a tragedy that happened earlier this year resulting in the heartbreaking death of New Yorker Michelle Go) .
The pilot program will take place at Times Square (7 line), Third Avenue (L line), and Sutphin Boulevard (E line) in Queens. These were selected because the “engineering works” there, ie: the infrastructure of other stations doesn’t lend itself to building viable barriers on the platforms (“It just doesn’t work in a lot of places,” he explained).
And as of last Wednesday (July 13), the MTA released a contract solicitation notice, inviting interested firms with the opportunity to build and maintain such platforms.
BREAKING: @MTA has announced pilot to install platform screen doors at 3 subway stations:
* Times Sq (7 train)
* 3rd Av (L)
* Sutphin Blvd (E)This will be a huge win for safety & efficiency. Truly a milestone in the history of NYC’s subways. Congrats to all who fought for this.
— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) February 23, 2022
Lieber told the New York Times the project will cost over $100 million and will not be completed until 2024.
In addition to the platform doors, the MTA will also be trying out new technology that “detect[s] track incursion using thermal technology, using laser technology, so [they] can know quicker when people get on the tracks and hopefully, interdict that kind of behavior.”
He didn’t share a timeline, but did state that it would “take a while” and that the organization had to “put the money together, which is a little complicated.” Either way, New Yorkers will be seeing platform doors appear at these three stations in the future. Time will tell if it will be a substantial safety measure.
In the meantime, the MTA is also working with the NYU Psychiatry Department at NYU Medical Center to find viable ways to deter people from harming themselves by jumping onto the tracks.