Dozens of subway track deaths prompt MTA to test safety measures like AI, ‘calming’ blue lights
In the wake of 88 deaths on city subway and rail tracks in 2022, the MTA is testing new ways to prevent such fatalities — from surveillance cameras and artificial intelligence to calming blue lights.
MTA official Shanifah Rieara cited an “uptick” in the number of people entering tracks in winter 2021 as reason to launch the pilot, though she did not provide detailed numbers.
“We know most incidents begin with people voluntarily getting on the tracks — whether that’s to pick up a dropped object, to cross to a different platform, to access an encampment in the tunnel or without any apparent reason,” Rieara, the MTA’s acting chief customer officer, told the agency’s board on Wednesday.
First responders attributed one in five of the incidents to mental illness, she said. Accidental falls or medical emergencies accounted for another 15% of cases and suicides, less than 10%.
There were 1,364 incidents involving people on the tracks in 2022, including the 88 fatalities.
The MTA has been piloting a program to piggyback artificial intelligence video analysis onto the transit system’s existing closed-circuit camera system, according to Jamie Torres-Springer, head of construction and development at the agency.
The tech helps “predict and alert us to erratic and dangerous behavior on the platforms,” he said.
“AI can help us understand where there is crowding on a platform that is unexpected and may lead to a certain incident,” Torres-Springer explained.
He said the MTA is also working on other long-term solutions to monitor trespassing — including sensors to detect people moving on the tracks beyond the platforms.
There are some low-tech projects in the works, too. Those include blue lights intended to create a calming effect.
“Studies have found that blue lighting can reduce the incidence of suicide or attempts at suicide by providing a calming psychological effect,” Torres-Springer said.
Blue lights have been installed at the platform edge at 26 LIRR stations to date and will be rolled out at Metro North and subway platforms this year, he added.
“The decision to actually take ones life, to act on that sense of despair, often takes place in a 10-minute timeframe,” Dr. Charles Marmar, chair of psychiatry at NYU Langone, told the MTA board Wednesday. “It’s very important that we do everything we can to provide security, provide messaging, provide an environment that will reduce the impulsivity that drives the act.”
Posters advertising a suicide prevention hotline are going up at stations, MTA officials said.
The MTA still plans on conducting a trial run of station safety gates, Torres-Springer noted, though he was lukewarm on the approach.
“We will be piloting platform screen doors,” he said, adding, “This is not the solution for the NYC subways system given its age and condition.”
The plan to install sets of doors at the platform’s edge — which gained some support after the January 2022 killing of subway rider Michelle Go — is hampered by the system’s narrow platforms, Torres-Springer said.
Different subway trains have different door spacing, creating a problem for gates, he added.
The MTA is putting out a request for proposals to set up the barriers later this spring.
