July 13, 2004
Death By Third Rail
A man was killed by the electrical shock from the third rail, after falling into the subway tracks at the Spring Street station last night. The Times and Post report that the victim was ain toxicated 41 year-old man who witnesses say touched the third rail. The Post also notes that the man had been urinating at the end of the platform before falling into the tracks. Eek. The third rail, long a mythic piece of the NYC subways, can be found either between or beside the running rails. Which probably doesn't help if you're drunk. While news of this death is sad, Gothamist has to admit we're relieved it's not another subway shooting; apparently shootings were saved for the outside this past weekend.
NYCsubway.org tells us that the third rail provides 625 volts of electricity to trains. And check out cool transit blog The Third Rail.
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Also--in case you're drunk and you really really need to pee, you can rest assured that you can't get electrocuted by peeing on the third rail.
I heard about this last night and was wondering how someone could fall and hit the third rail, it's so far from the platform.
It's called "survival of the fittest". Look into it.
Which reminds me of the climactic scene from "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three," which I won't spoil by divulging here.
goddamn it- my plan was always to piss on the blarney stone, and then come back to nyc and kill myself by peeing on the third rail. unless i can think of more things to pee on.
Well, ConEd published that list of about 150 sites where the box covers (which killed that woman walking her dog last winter) were electrified. I'm certain that haven't fixed them all (after all, the ConEd slogan was 'On it' not 'Done') If you pissed on one of those, you might have better luck. Standing on it and pissing would be even more effective (though that might be kind of cheating). Finding one in the middle of the street (Queens Blvd would be ideal), and pissing on it, at night, in dark clothes: suicide gold.
Hahah, miss representation, I never really thought of the ConEd slogan like that before! So true... sum up their philosophy so well...
Wha? Never between. Only beside.
Ironically, "The Taking of Pelham 123" was on TV last night. And yes, the Third Rail has a supporting role.
Yeah, I've never seen the third rail in between the running rails on the NYC Subway system, but I can't find any information to back this up. Although, if you're advised to lie down in the ditch between the running rails in the event you find yourself on the tracks ahead of an on-coming train, that'd probably mean the third rail is never in-between the running rails on the NYC Subway system.
It's a simple concept: if the third rail were ever between the running rails, then every single train in the system would be unable to run in that location, and someone would quickly notice that no trains were passing by that location and put the third rail back where it belongs, outside the running rails.