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Subway platform barriers will be tested at three stations in Manhattan and Queens, MTA Chair Janno Lieber said on Wednesday.
The new shove-preventing barriers will be installed at Times Square on the 7 line, Third Avenue on the L line and Sutphin Boulevard/JFK Airport at the end of the E line, Lieber said during an appearance on NY1.
Lieber and his team previously studied and ruled out platform doors as part of the MTA’s current capital improvement plan. That changed after the January murder of Michelle Go, who was pushed onto the tracks in the Times Square station by a mentally ill man.
In addition to the trial platform doors, MTA officials are exploring using thermal and laser technology to detect track intrusions, Lieber told NY1.
“It’s going to take a while. We’re going to put the money together, which is a little complicated,” he said. “But our goal is to try out these technologies, at different places in the system, including three stations, trying out platform doors.”
Lieber said the MTA would also collaborate with NYU Medical Center “to figure out how to deter people from, God forbid, committing suicide by jumping on tracks.”
Transit officials have considered, then ruled out platform door upgrades on several occasions in the past.
A 2017 study found the cost for all 472 subway stations would exceed $7 billion.
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