Lucky 7 Line Extension Will Get Platform Doors

Ooh - NY1 has the exclusive on this exciting bit of subway news: The MTA is planning on installing subway platform doors on the 7 line extension. The platform doors are not only a safety feature, they create savings with energy bills and keep stations cooler. Additionally, they would prevent people from being able to litter in the tracks (and that litter can cause track fires, which is a major cause of subway delays).

A NY Times story from April noted that previous NYC Transit president Lawrence Reuter discouraged the MTA from looking at platform doors because they were expensive and would only apply to few stations in the system. Seems like current president Howard Roberts Jr. thinks differently!

The 7 line extension will include a station at the Javits Center (11th Avenu and 34th Street), but there has been some controversy because the MTA may not build a station at 10th Avenue and 41st, which would otherwise be a no-brainer, due to money issues. The MTA has tangled with the city about funding the $2.1 billion project.

Photograph of a Hong Kong subway platform which has floor-to-ceiling glass walls and doors by Tien Mao

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By Jen Chung in News on September 8, 2007 5:09 PM

Comments [rss]

guest

They should make the walls not out of glass, but out of solid brick, scratched window graffiti (I mean "art") problem solved. Like how they do it in Russia.

Kojak

I don't see how anyone can get used to it, regardless of how long you've lived here. You must live in a sty

ed_Extinct

i would hardly call the MTA corrupt.

have you ever been to countries in the middle east or africa? now that's corrupt...

guest

If only they'd retrofit them into existing stations.

The air conditioned 4,5,6, and 7 platforms at Grand Central should be the first ones to have them.

Kojak

"This is why the people who built the system set it up so that the air flow would be maintained by trains moving through the platform."

And that would be great if not for the dank and piss/shit smell of the subway tunnels. And [3] is right. Unless they invent some kind of scratchitti-proof class that works, its going to look very ugly after a few months.

But it is worth a shot.

guest

they got these in some stations in singapore also. when the doors break or are broken into there will be further delays

guest

platform doors already exist in NYC on the AirTrain.

matthew

Platform doors are a great idea and should be a priority in subway upgrades. Of course...there are hundreds of other priorities that should be addressed, as well, but never will, because the mta is a corrupt, money burning organization. Well, maybe organization isn't fair, there isn't much organized about the way the mta runs things.

Anyhow, platform doors = great idea.

mocanlagunas

Finally the XXI century comes to NY....

guest

Ohhhh, a new place for scratchitti, stickers, ads! Fun, fun!

guest

...and that litter can cause track fires, which is a major cause of subway delays

Someone has been reading the helpful signs in the trains.

Ace

Ok, we have the platform doors. Now there's little excuse for not installing the air conditioning and heating. Progress sure comes slowly with the MTA.