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MTA Exploring Installing Sliding Doors At L Train Stations
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 13, 2013
Modified Jan 13, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 13, 2013
Modified Jan 13, 2013
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A few weeks ago, it was announced that the MTA will reconsider installing sliding doors on some subway platforms in the wake of several high profile subway shoving tragedies. Based on our conversation with transit architect Jonathan Cohn, the design director of the JFK AirTrain, it sounded as though the MTA was just indulging a good but ultimately too-tough-to-implement idea. But the Post reports that it might not be such a pipe dream after all—in particular, the MTA is exploring the possibility of installing the sliding doors at L Train stations.
Thomas Prendergast, the agency’s acting executive director, told them that the L is an ideal test spot because it doesn’t share track with other lines and is used by only one type of train. That was one of the main issues Cohn brought up in explaining why the MTA had been reluctant to try out the plan previously—it was also the reason he had worked on a proposal to add sliding doors to the still-being-constructed Second Avenue Subway in 2007.
It's still going to be pricey however you cut it: the Post says installing the doors system-wide would be more than $1 billion, although the MTA could seek out funding from private companies. Cohn believes it would take political pressure from outside the MTA to really make such a plan happen.
But this isn't the only safety measure the MTA is looking at: they're planning an “aggressive passenger information campaign” to warn straphangers to stand away from the platform edge. To that end, they've revamped the announcement system to increase the frequency of the messages. The MTA is also considering expanding the “see something, say something” campaign to ask straphangers to look out for the mentally ill.
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l train
MTA
sliding doors
subway
subway platform
subway shoving
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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