UPDATE: Following today’s subway death, Councilman James Vacca called for an emergency hearing to “bring together the appropriate agencies,” including the police department, the MTA, and mental health professionals, to come up with a “several prong plan.”
“I think today’s latest incident is a serious wake up call,” Vacca said. “We cannot have incident after incident take place like this without saying we are going to act.”
This is the third instance of a person being struck by a train in as many days: a woman jumped in front of an L train Monday morning, and an intoxicated man’s leg was severed by an E train when he laid down under a platform on Sunday.
“We have to have a plan and I don’t see a plan right now,” Vacca insisted.
Transit Workers Union Local 100 spokesman Jim Gannon noted a recent rise in concern over this problem, citing in particular a recent New York Times article that shed light on the effects these incidents have on transit workers.
“The fallout of these incidents take many forms…including the personal trauma of having someone jump or fall in front of your train and killing them,” Gannon said.
Transit Workers Union: Slow Down
TWU passed out flyers on Friday promoting their push for trains to enter stations more slowly. Vacca said he would consider such a proposal, but “would have to look at [it] closely.”
“I certainly don’t want to do something that would slow down the services we already have,” he said.
Last year, 141 people were struck by trains, down from 146 in 2011. However, fatalities increased to 55 from 47.
Metro’s original story is below.
The FDNY responded to a call at 9:59 a.m. today after a person was hit by a northbound 2 train at 42nd Street.
The fire department reported that the victim was dead at the scene. The MTA confirmed that the victim was male.
The victim jumped, according to the NYPD. He did not say anything or leave a note to explain his actions.
Following the accident, 2 trains were running on the 5 line and 3 trains were running local in both directions from Chambers to 149th Street.
Normal service has since been restored, with some delays.
Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat
