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Some 350 homeless individuals were recently found living in encampments in subway stations and tunnels, transit officials said Thursday.
The individuals were spread between 29 encampments in tunnels and 89 in stations, according to an MTA survey conducted on Feb. 2 and 3 as part of a “track trespass” task force formed in December to address an uptick in track intrusions.
Taskforce leader Jamie Torres-Springer said the tunnel encampments “directly lead to track trespassing incidents,” which the MTA began tracking in detail in January.
MTA bean counters recorded 160 track intrusion incidents in the first month of record-keeping, 40 of which were attributed to mentally ill or emotionally disturbed individuals, Torres-Springer said. Other incidents involved slip-and-falls, intoxication or suicide or attempted suicide, and four more involved shove assaults.
“Last year, there were 1,267 incidents of a person on the tracks, which is a 20 percent increase since 2019,” Torres-Springer said. “Out of those incidents, 200 resulted in someone getting hit by a train and there were 68 fatalities.”
Suicides or attempted suicides accounted for about a quarter of train collisions with individuals, Torres-Springer said.
Encampments are broadly defined and can include “lying down in the sleeping bag, or stretched out,” officials said. All 29 encampments were removed upon discovery.
“We never leave an encampment in place. As soon as we identify an encampment, those people are immediately removed,” said agency spokesman Tim Minton.
To reduce track intrusions, the MTA will test platform barriers at some stations, laser intrusion detection technology and public education to discourage “voluntary” trespassing and communicate to riders “the dangers of going on the tracks.”
Anti-suicide messaging is also a key preventative measure, Torres-Springer said.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber said New York City Transit has begun conducting “regularly scheduled” surveys of homeless encampments, and will share what they learn with NYPD.
“We’re using that to provide information to the NYPD and to the social service professional, for them to do their work in helping us get people into services and out of the system,” Lieber said.
Mayor Eric Adams last week announced plans to send teams of cops and healthcare professionals into the subway system to remove vagrants and cajole them into accepting services.
Lisa Daglian of the MTA’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee welcomed the MTA’s transparency but said now is the time for action.
“It’s scary to know that people are living in the tunnels, but it’s not anything new,” Daglian said. “We’ve been lucky that people who were in camping in the tunnels are not there to do harm to the system, but one day our luck is going to run out.
“Nobody should be living in the subway system, whether it’s in a subway car, whether it’s in a subway station, whether it’s in a subway tunnel. That is not a home. There needs to be sufficient housing for people to live.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
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