Two people were killed Friday morning when a subway train crashed into them at Manhattan station, police said, the latest of such deaths and an indication of what authorities are saying. Transport authorities describe a worrying increase in unauthorized people venturing on the tracks.
The collision occurred shortly before 10:45 a.m., when a southbound No. 1 train plowed into 145th Street station in Hamilton Heights and hit a man and a woman who were traveling on the tracks at the time, the house said. authorities said.
Both are presumed dead at the scene. Their names and ages were not immediately released, nor were additional details about the collision. Police said the victims were walking through the tunnel when they were hit and were possibly homeless.
The subway, a vital engine of the New York economy, is at the heart of a number of problems – including crime and homelessness – facing officials as they try to push accelerate the city’s recovery and lure riders back into the pandemic-ravaged system.
As part of those efforts, the city and the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which oversees the subway, have taken new steps to free the homeless from trains and platforms. Officials have also increased their focus on keep everyone off the trackfollowing a spike last year in so-called street intrusions or cases when people walked on the street without permission.
Authorities reported 1,267 such intrusions last year, up 19% from 2020. Two hundred intrusions in 2021 resulted in people being hit by trains and 68 dead.
In addition to the security concerns that intrusions pose, even behavior that does not lead to collisions can cause delays that affect the system. At a board meeting this week, the agency’s chief safety officer, Patrick Warren, said that the number of intrusions so far this year is “still much higher” than last year’s figure. “There’s more work to be done there,” he said.
Responding to Friday’s crash, Mr Warren said in a statement: “We shouldn’t go on saying: Tracks are dangerous and it’s illegal to walk on the street, obviously dangerous. life and possibly thousands of other riders.”
Most people who wind up on the tracks, including those hit by trains, are there voluntarily, according to transit officials. Many people jump off the platform to get back what they have dropped. Others cross the tracks, hoping to quickly get from platform to platform. Some are mentally ill.
The problem is compounded by prison camps set up by homeless people in tunnels and subway stations, transportation officials say. In a report on “trail encroachment” discussed at a council meeting in February, officials said that over two days in February, transportation officers found 89 such seats in homes station and 29 other places in the subway tunnel.
The Transportation Authority has been exploring new methods to keep people off course, including a pilot program under which foundation barrier will be installed at some stations. Authorities are also planning to test systems that detect when someone has ended up on the tracks.
Officials hope that increasing the number of police officers patrolling the system – a move ordered by Mayor Eric Adams as part of his plan to make the subway feel safer – will prevent people from voluntarily stepping on the tracks.
Mr. Adams .’s subway safety plan also includes deploying social workers and outreach specialists to help homeless and mentally ill people in subway shelters get the services they need.
Friday’s deaths followed several similar ones this month. Around 6 p.m. Wednesday, a homeless person was severely trapped by an express train on the tracks near Spring Street Station in Lower Manhattan, transportation officials said.
Last week, a train operator found bodies of two French tourists under train number 3 as it arrived at the station in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. According to French media reports, the two are graffiti artists who have to New York hoping to be tagged Station.
A few days earlier, another man, who police said might be homeless, was found dead in a subway tunnel in Queens. Police said he appeared to have been hit by a train.
Ana Ley contribution report.
