On the heels of Mayor Adams & the MTA’s subway safety plan shared in February of last year, a new effort had been announced: adding subway platform doors to station platforms.
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 last year resulting in the heartbreaking death of New Yorker Michelle Go).
And, according to Gothamist, the city will begin constructing these doors “in the coming months.”
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).
In July 2022, 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 subway 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 coming months.
Time will tell if it will be a substantial safety measure.
Additionally, the MTA recently revealed new subway turnstile prototypes created in hopes to curb fare evasion.