Platform Safety Screens Coming To Busy East Village Train Station

EAST VILLAGE, NY — With mounting public concern and interest over better safety precautions on New York City subway platforms, Metropolitan Transit Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber announced Wednesday that platform screen doors will be installed at an East Village station as part of a pilot program looking into the added safety measure.

Janno said the pilot program will bring platform screen doors to the following stations:

• Times Square (7 train)
• 3rd Avenue (L train)
• Sutphin Boulevard (E train)

The 3rd Avenue L train stop is located at the intersection of 3rd Avenue and East 14th Street in the East Village.

The Lower Manhattan train station has a history with the proposed construction of platform screen doors.

The 3rd Avenue L train station was supposed to get platform screen doors built between April 2019 and March 2020, while the 14th Street Tunnel was being rebuilt.

However, the money needed for the project at the time was reallocated to the installation of elevators at the Sixth Avenue station, and the platform screen door pilot program was postponed.

"But we're also going to be piloting, and this is new, we're going to be piloting both platform doors at three stations where the engineering does work," Lieber said in an interview with NY1 on Wednesday morning. "It doesn't work in a lot of places. But it's Time Square, at [3 Avenue] on the train, and the Sutphin Boulevard stop, where the JFK AirTrain connects. Those three stations are where we are looking forward to trying a pilot."

Liber confirmed that passengers will actually see platform doors at the pilot program stations and that the MTA is putting together the money to do so now.

"It's going to take a while," Lieber said without specifying a timeline for the pilot.

Multiple elected officials praised the beginning of a screen door pilot program on Wednesday, including Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.

"This pilot program is an important first step toward making our subway system a more resilient and safe place for commuting New Yorkers," Levine said in a statement. "It will not only help stop future tragedies like the Michelle Go murder but also prevent other incidents like people falling on the tracks, suicide attempts and track fires which are some of the main causes of subway delays."