New York City subways may install barriers on platforms to protect passengers
'19.01.2022'
Nurgul Sultanova-Chetin
As the New York Post, the New York City subway may finally be safe. Public transport leaders to look into installing platform barriers after woman's gruesome death thrown onto rails at subway station Times Square. This was announced on January 18 by the Acting Chairman of the MTA Janno Lieber. But the idea of barrier doors to prevent platform pushes is facing serious hurdles, Lieber warned.
“Platform doors are an idea that works in many places, but New York has particular challenges,” Lieber told reporters. “However, we are always looking for ways to make the system more secure.”
Lieber cited "the age of our system", station ventilation and platform accessibility as potential obstacles. A spokesman for public transport also referred to "displacement of train doors" and "column placement".
Leaders MTA previously stated that barriers are prohibitively expensive and complex "multi-billion dollar solution".
On the subject: Man pushes woman under train in New York subway: she died on the spot
On Jan. 18, Lieber said the MTA's newly formed "travel disruption" task force is exploring its feasibility, among other potential responses to the recent increase in subway track intrusions.
Worth the investment, experts say
"I'm sure it's feasible," said NYU public transportation researcher Eric Goldwyn.
Goldwyn noted that the only platform barriers in New York are at the JFK AirTrain airport. But major cities have figured out how to upgrade outdated barriers, including Paris, Hong Kong and Sofia, Bulgaria.
Agency staff considered upgrading the platform doors several times and then ruled it out. Former Transit president Andy Byford said in an email Jan. 17 that he considered barrier doors while at the MTA. But ultimately decided that upgrading signals to speed up service was more important to improve service.
He said platform barriers "should not be ruled out in the future", especially when new stations are being built.
However, the MTA has so far chosen not to install doors on its newest stations. They excluded them from the current $55 billion overhaul plan. Supporters said they were puzzled by the continued reluctance to accept any form of platform barrier.
Ben Fried of Manhattan-based think tank TransitCenter said the MTA was right to prioritize signals and station availability given the prohibitive construction costs in New York City.
