NEW YORK CITY — The MTA is planning a test program to install screen doors at a subway station to prevent passengers from falling on the tracks, officials told DNAinfo New York.
The agency is "in the process of working on a pilot program" for one station, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.
“We’ll have more information on that in the near future,” he said, declining to provide further details.
According to the 2010-2014 capital plan, a design for a pilot program was planned for the L train's Sixth Avenue station at 14th Street in Manhattan. "The goal of platform screen doors is to improve customer and crew safety as well as reduce trash and debris accumulation on the trackway," according to the project description.
However, Ortiz clarified that he was not referring to that particular budget item and that "the location of the pilot may change," he said in an email Thursday morning.
It was not immediately clear what the cost of the pilot program would be.
Despite numerous deaths and injuries that have occurred after commuters fall, jump or are pushed onto the subway tracks, the MTA has said on multiple occasions that the cost of installing the protective sliding doors at its aging stations would be exorbitant.
Fifty-three people were killed by such accidents in 2013 and 55 were killed in 2012, according to the New York Daily News.
Currently, AirTrain stations in Queens have the platform screen doors.
