New Yorkers Fall From Platforms That Could Have Had Barriers

NEW YORK CITY — A shove from behind. A fall into open space onto the tracks. An oncoming train.

This New York City subway nightmare came to frightening life for a straphanger last week inside Fulton Street station in Lower Manhattan, police said.

Only by luck, the 62-year-old man escaped with his life by crawling underneath the platform moments before the train entered the station. But, according to police, he wasn't quite fast enough.

"He was struck by part of the train," a NYPD release states.

This is one of about a half dozen dangerous platform falls — including that of Michelle Go, the 42-year-old woman shoved in front of an oncoming R train at 42nd Street about two weeks ago — transit advocates say could have been prevented had the MTA installed platform safety doors.

According to Patch's analysis of the nearly 4,000-page MTA study on the feasibility of such safety measures — which MTA chair and CEO Janno Lieber said last week would represent a serious challenge — it's half true.

Three of six subway stations where New Yorkers were recently either pushed or fell onto the tracks could feasibly have had platform doors installed, according to Patch's analysis of the 2019 report.

Platform doors were deemed unfeasible on the Times Square Q train platform where Go lost her life, as well as the Barclays Q platform and the 125th Street station — where two men were hit by trains, the MTA found.

The MTA did find it would be possible, however, to build platform barriers at Grand Central — where a man was fatally struck this year by a 7 train — on the West 4th Street platform where a man was recently hit and the Fulton Street platform where the 62-year-old man narrowly escaped with his life.

But whether these stations will get the safety upgrades remains unclear, as MTA officials have long balked at the price tags and the logistics of modernizing an aging transit system.

"There are serious challenges to installing platform doors," Janno Lieber, the MTA's chair and CEO, said recently.

In total, such doors were deemed "feasible" at only 128 out of 472 stations, according to the study. And even those stations present difficulties, the study found.

"Today, due to door misalignments, [platform screen doors] could only be implemented at 41 of the 128 stations, with implementation for the remainder being possible as car types (geometries/doorspacings) in each Division/Line get progressively compatible by year 2033," the study states.

Even if MTA's assessment is correct — and many advocates believe transit officials are yet again exaggerating the difficulty of projects they don't want to undertake — the platform doors could still save lives at many stations. Or, in the shoving case at Fulton Street, prevent near misses.

Platform doors at Fulton Street station's A/C lines, where the incident unfolded, are not only "feasible," but two different types of doors — full height and half height — can be built in the station at a cost of roughly $32 to $40 million, according to the report.

But another Jan. 18 incident — during which a man was hit by a train while trying to pick up a backpack from the tracks at Barclays Center — might not have be prevented by platform doors.

The Q train track in question doesn't have enough space to follow ADA rules, the study found.

Still, the victim's family and attorney argued MTA was potentially negligent.

"It is unheard of a young person, 23 years old, with his entire life in front of him has had such an accident on a train platform," attorney Slawomir Platta said Monday. "I want to believe this accident could have been avoided."

Lieber said he'd be open to exploring a pilot program for stations where barriers were deemed feasible.

But many officials such as Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine argued challenges to building platform doors aren't "insurmountable."

"In particular, the MTA's Enhanced Station Initiative, which sunk around $936 million into mostly cosmetic station improvements, has proven the agency can find needs funds for initiatives when they are deemed a priority," Levine and other Manhattan officials wrote in a letter to Lieber. "Platform screen doors must be given the priority they deserved, studied, and funded for installation."

Related coverage:

• These Midtown Subway Stops Could Have Platform Barriers: MTA
• West 4th Train Station Could Get Platform Barriers Added: MTA
• Lone UWS Train Station Has Chance Of Added Platform Door: MTA
• These Uptown Subway Stations Could Get Platform Barriers: MTA
• Man Hit By BK Train 'Fights For His Life,' Family Demands Answers
• These UES Subway Stops Could Have Platform Barriers, MTA Says

Patch writers Nick Garber, Anna Quinn and Gus Saltonstall contributed to this report.