MTA will test floor-to-ceiling protective barrier on L-train platform

As part of its NYC Subway Action Plan aimed at enhancing the straphanger experience, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will install a floor-to-ceiling screen at the L-train’s Third Avenue station to prevent people from jumping or being pushed onto the tracks. As a pilot program, the new screen doors will be put into place in 2019 during the train’s shutdown and are expected to be ready in 2020 when the L-train resumes service. As the New York Post reported, the authority is still working on a design that could work in different sized-stations in the future.

The updated interior of the E train, via MTA on Flickr

Earlier this month, the MTA revealed the first refurbished and reconfigured subway cars under their action plan. The authority removed some of the seats on a few E train cars, added better handrails and included more information and LED lighting. Following their renovations of the E trains, the MTA then removed seats on the 42nd Street-Times Square shuttle and the L-train. On Tuesday, the MTA rolled out foldable seats that lock in place on the L, allowing for even more standing room on the notoriously overcrowded subway line.

Platform at Taipei Main Station features protective barrier, photo via Wikimedia

Now, the MTA announced plans to design a safety screen popular in transit systems in Asia and Europe. “We’re in the design planning stages and working to overcome structural challenges for a small platform screen doors pilot at the Third Ave. station along the L line,” a spokesperson for the authority, Jon Weinstein, said in a statement to the Daily News.

Transit advocates have been pushing the MTA to create a platform barrier for years as a way to prevent people from falling, jumping or being pushed onto the tracks. Last year, 44 people were killed by trains with 50 people killed the year before. In the past, MTA resisted creating barriers because of the likely cost of installation.

According to the authority, the biggest challenges facing them include finding space for equipment, some of the curved tracks, obstructions like columns and adequate power. Officials selected the Third Ave station because its tracks lie straighter than others and the platform has five feet of clearance from the edge without obstruction.

[Via NY Post]

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