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In 2012, 55 people died after being hit by subway trains in New York, an increase of eight deaths compared with 2011. This year has already begun on a grisly note. Around 5:20 a.m. on New Year’s Day, the police said, a woman believed to be in her 20s lay down on the tracks at West 34th Street and was killed by a northbound No. 2 train.

Train operators have come to learn certain rules of thumb. Expect about a death across the system per week, perhaps less in a good year. Prepare for more around the holidays. (Statistics do not support the idea that suicides go up at those times, but workers say they believe it to be true.) Operators who go five years without a “12-9” — transit code for a passenger under a train — should count themselves lucky. One operator, Kevin Harrington, 61, said he had recorded “10 or 11” since 1984, one fatal.

If their train kills a passenger, operators are now given three days off.

Terry B. wrote:Banning would obviously be stupid. However, making things safter should be a priority - there is no reason that they shouldn't have barriers and safety doors like most major systems do.

Schlegel wrote:

Terry B. wrote:Banning would obviously be stupid. However, making things safter should be a priority - there is no reason that they shouldn't have barriers and safety doors like most major systems do.

What major system has these? I've never seen one that wasn't just a bare platform edge.

Erika Menendez, 31, was charged with second-degree murder as a hate-crime for allegedly pushing Sunando Sen, 46, into a No. 7 train in the Queens borough of New York on the night of December 27, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said today in a statement.

Menendez, who lives in the Bronx, admitted pushing Sen and said she was prompted by the terrorist attacks in 2001, according to Brown.

She said ‘‘in sum and substance ’I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up,’’’ according to the district attorney.

Terry B. wrote:

Schlegel wrote:

Terry B. wrote:Banning would obviously be stupid. However, making things safter should be a priority - there is no reason that they shouldn't have barriers and safety doors like most major systems do.

What major system has these? I've never seen one that wasn't just a bare platform edge.

Tokyo (not all stations). Seoul (not sure if all stations). Hong Kong. Singapore. Paris (in parts, at least). Shanghai. Taipei. Most major airports - not a subway, but the trains in places like Atlanta and Denver. An old system that would obviously have more difficulties and greater expensive in installing but with the ridership they have, it would be hard to imagine that ads on the gates couldn't recoup a good part of the expense.

Safety doors would be expensive and difficult additions to the sprawling, 108-year-old subway system, but some people are urging the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to try it. A company has proposed to install the barriers for free in exchange for advertising revenue.

Terry B. wrote:

Schlegel wrote:

Terry B. wrote:Banning would obviously be stupid. However, making things safter should be a priority - there is no reason that they shouldn't have barriers and safety doors like most major systems do.

What major system has these? I've never seen one that wasn't just a bare platform edge.

Tokyo (not all stations). Seoul (not sure if all stations). Hong Kong. Singapore. Paris (in parts, at least). Shanghai. Taipei. Most major airports - not a subway, but the trains in places like Atlanta and Denver. An old system that would obviously have more difficulties and greater expensive in installing but with the ridership they have, it would be hard to imagine that ads on the gates couldn't recoup a good part of the expense.

kreator wrote:

Terry B. wrote:

Schlegel wrote:

Terry B. wrote:Banning would obviously be stupid. However, making things safter should be a priority - there is no reason that they shouldn't have barriers and safety doors like most major systems do.

What major system has these? I've never seen one that wasn't just a bare platform edge.

Tokyo (not all stations). Seoul (not sure if all stations). Hong Kong. Singapore. Paris (in parts, at least). Shanghai. Taipei. Most major airports - not a subway, but the trains in places like Atlanta and Denver. An old system that would obviously have more difficulties and greater expensive in installing but with the ridership they have, it would be hard to imagine that ads on the gates couldn't recoup a good part of the expense.

I live a mile from where this happened and the last thing the MTA needs is a multi-million dollar overhaul just to put in some barriers to prevent homicide by pushing. (And if you think what you're proposing can be done on less than a few million dollars I'd disagree.) 40% of the system is above ground anyway.

The MTA is a mismanaged disgrace. The prices go up all the time and ads are barely keeping it afloat at the moment.

If someone faints on a car at 8:30am on a weekday they will literally shut down the entire tunnel until paramedics arrive which means a good 3-5000 people are now 30 minutes late for work. I don't trust the MTA with anything especially not implementing a system-wide safety plan.

If you go to a major subway station after 2am where police are, they keep everyone who looks a little tipsy away from the edge. That's the most effective option.

protobuilder wrote:The easiest thing to do would be just enclose the cars so you can't push people out of them anymore