MTA Officials May Revisit Plan To Install Barriers On Subway Platforms
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- In the wake of the second recent incident in which someone shoved a fellow passenger off a subway platform and left him to be killed by a train, New York City transit officials said they might give more thought to install sliding doors on some platforms.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said 54 people were killed on the tracks in 2012. That includes two men pushed to their deaths this month.
The agency has said a plan to install barriers on the edges of the platform could be prohibitively expensive and difficult.
"Based on the MTA's preliminary analysis, the challenge of installing platform edge barriers in the New York City subway system would be both expensive and extremely challenging given the varied station designs and the differences in door positions among some subway car classes," the MTA said in a statement.
MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said any such plan would be "quite prohibitive" back in March.
But the agency is now considering the options for testing such equipment "on a limited basis," the statement said.
It would cost an estimated $1.5 million to install sliding doors along two platform edges in a new station and more to retrofit an existing station. There are 468 stations in the system.
The most recent deadly shoving incident happened Thursday evening, when witnesses said a woman shot forward, shoving an unsuspecting man onto the tracks and directly into the path of an oncoming "7" train at the 40th-Lowery Street elevated station.
The victim, Sunando Sen, was originally from India and recently opened a business in Queens, 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported.
The woman, 31, was in custody and was being questioned by police Saturday afternoon.
In the earlier incident on On Dec. 3, police said 58-year-old Ki Suck Han was pushed to his death by 30-year-old Naeem Davis. The two were seen on cell phone video arguing just moments before Han was dumped on the tracks.
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