MTA to begin pilot program featuring platform doors at 3 New York City subway stations
NEW YORK -- New safety measures in the form of platform doors will soon be coming to three city subway stations.
The MTA said Wednesday it will be part of a pilot program to keep people from getting pushed off the platform, CBS2's Kevin Rincon reported.
Soon, a No. 7-line stop in Times Square will look different. Barriers will be added to make sure no one can get onto the tracks.
"We're going to be piloting platform doors at three stations where the engineering does work. It doesn't work in a lot of places," MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said.
"Installing subway platform doors where possible is a common-sense step we can take towards making the subways safer. I applaud the MTA for testing this idea, and my administration will work in partnership with them to evaluate their effectiveness and expand where appropriate," Mayor Eric Adams added.
Lieber said the program will also be enacted on the L line at the Third Avenue station and the E at Sutphin Boulevard. The changes are coming amid growing safety concerns.
Getting the doors in will take time.
"It's gonna take a while. We're gonna have to put the money together, which is a little complicated, but our goal is to try out these technologies at different places in the system, including three stations, trying out platform doors," Lieber said.
Last month, Lieber said this idea could only work at 40 of its 472 stations. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine says it's well beyond time for something like this.
"We can start now at those stations, where the engineering is easier, and prove out the technology, learn from it, innovate, and go from there," Levine said.
The MTA says it's rolling out this plan right now because too many people have been jumping down onto the tracks, or, in some rare cases, they've been pushed down.
One of those rare cases happened last month when 40-year-old Michelle Go was fatally pushed onto the tracks in Times Square by a homeless person.
Subway riders in Times Square said they like the idea, and feel it's timely.
"It's just unsafe, you know?" one said.
"It does sound like a good idea, because then there's no access to the tracks at all for anyone, for people who want to jump," another said.
"Probably also going to prevent people from dropping phones," another said.
"It would prevent people from being pushed. It might cut down on crowding around the doors," a man said said.
Meanwhile, the MTA says it'll implement another new program aimed at pinpointing exactly when someone is down on the tracks.
"We're also going to be piloting new technologies to detect track incursion, using thermal technology, using laser technology, so we can know quicker when people get on the tracks and hopefully interdict that kind of behavior," Lieber said.
He said the key to keeping the city going is making sure people feel safe.