These Uptown Subway Stations Could Get Platform Barriers: MTA

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Got time to read 4,000 pages about train platforms?

With mounting public concern and interest over better safety precautions on New York City subway platforms, the Metropolitan Transit Authority publicly released a huge study Wednesday night from 2019 where it explored the feasibility of platform door barriers in the city's 472 stations.

The study found that only 128 of those stations had the correct conditions to allow for the installation of the floor-to-ceiling gates.

"There are serious challenges to installing — we have three different cars with doors in different places. ADA access for wheelchairs is an issue," Janno Liber, the head of the MTA, said Thursday in an interview on "The Brian Lehrer Show."

He added, though, that the agency has identified 40 to 100 stations where platforms barriers are possible, and he would like to see a pilot program set into place at those stops.

What about Upper Manhattan?

For the 15 train stations in Washington Heights and Inwood, the MTA concluded that only five of them were feasible for the installation of the platform doors.

The most common reasons the MTA gave for why the uptown stations were a no-go on the platform doors, were that platforms are too narrow to install the barrier and remain ADA compliant for people in wheelchairs, a lack of space in exit areas, and elevated platforms simply not being able to support the added weight.

For the five uptown stations that the MTA deemed platform barrier construction possible, the total installation cost was estimated at over $350 million.

Following the release of the 4,000-page report, various NYC transportation blogs criticized the MTA for not being solution-oriented on the pointed-out hurdles and possibly overestimating how much the installations would cost.

The issue of added subway platform safety has received major attention in the two weeks since Michelle Go was shoved in front of an oncoming R train at 42nd Street and killed.

Here's more of a breakdown of each subway station in Washington Heights and Inwood, and what the MTA said about whether it was possible to build the platform door barriers within.

215th Street 1 Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the Inwood station.
• It wouldn't work because of the elevated precast t-beam platform which has been deemed structurally insufficient to carry the load of a platform edge barrier system.

207th Street 1 Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the Inwood station.
• It wouldn't work because of the elevated precast t-beam platform which has been deemed structurally insufficient to carry the load of a platform edge barrier system.

207th A Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the station.
• The implementation would result in non-compliant exit conditions as it would not allow for proper evacuation space.

Dyckman Street 1 Train Station

• It is possible to build both automatic platform doors and platform screen doors at the uptown station.
• For implementation, there may need to be platform edge reconstruction to support the requirements of an automatic platform door system.
• The rough estimate is $27.4 million to install automatic platform doors and $34 million to install platform screen doors.

Dyckman Street A Train Station

• It is possible for both automatic platform doors and platform screen doors at the uptown station.
• There would be a required platform reconstruction, though, to support both systems.
• The rough estimate is $31.8 million to install automatic platform doors and $41.3 million to install platform screen doors.

191st Street 1 Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the station.
• Platform edge reconstruction may be needed to support the edge doors.
• The rough estimate is $27 million to install automatic platform doors and $33.6 million to install platform screen doors.

190th Street A Train Station

• It is possible for both automatic platform doors and platform screen doors at the uptown station.
• To allow for the implementation, a ceiling-mounted signal would have to be moved and a platform reconstruction would be needed for the support of both new systems.
• The rough estimate is $31.9 million to install automatic platform doors and $41.1 million to install platform screen doors.

181st Street 1 Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors because the needed implementation would result in non-compliant Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) conditions.
• There would not be enough room for wheelchair movement on the platform.

181st Street A Train Station

• It is possible for both automatic platform doors and platform screen doors at the uptown station.
• A ceiling-mounted signal would have to be relocated and a platform reconstruction would be needed for the support of both new systems.
• The rough estimate is $32.1 million to install automatic platform doors and $41.2 million to install platform screen doors.

175th Street A Train Station

• It is possible for both automatic platform doors and platform screen doors at the uptown station.
• Platform edge reconstruction would possibly be needed to support the requirements of both barrier systems.
• The rough estimate is $31.9 million to install automatic platform doors and $40.5 million to install platform screen doors.

168th Street 1 Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the station because the needed implementation would result in non-compliant Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) conditions.
• There would not be enough room for wheelchair movement on the platform.

168th A + C Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the station.
• The implementation of either barrier system would result in non-compliant train exit conditions on the platform.

163rd Street C Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the station.
• The implementation of either barrier system would leave too little room for a wheelchair to move safely on the platform.

157th Street 1 Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the station because the columns which are 14 inches from the platform edge would impede both access for maintenance and the ability to exit the train through the emergency exit doors.

155th Street 1 Train Station

• It is not possible to build automatic platform doors or platform screen doors at the station.
• The implementation of either barrier system would leave too little room for a wheelchair to move safely on the platform.