MTA To Test Sensors To Curb Subway Track Fatalities
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced plans to test out systems aimed at preventing people from being struck and killed by subway trains.
As WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported, there have been more than 50 people killed on subway tracks this year, and about 90 more who have been struck and injured by trains.
The transit agency is testing four systems to indicate if someone has wound up on the tracks.
MTA To Test Sensors To Curb Subway Track Fatalities
"Closed-circuit cameras, scanning laser beams, thermal cameras as well as radio-frequency technology," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told Haskell.
If someone falls and trips a sensor, a video feed would be provided to the Rail Control Center, Haskell reported.
"Also, automatically alert a train operator approaching the station," said Ortiz.
The sensors would not allow a train to stop if someone is pushed or jumps onto the tracks as a train is approaching.
The pilot program is expected to begin by the end of the year.
In 2012, 55 people were killed by subway trains, a tie for the most since 2001, the Daily News reported.
The MTA said on average, 134 people are hit and 49 people have been killed each year since 2001.
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