Brooklyn Boro

No matter what the reason, people on subway tracks cause serious problems

September 18, 2018 By Raanan Geberer Brooklyn Daily Eagle
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
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In addition to lateness, equipment breakdown and other problems, MTA officials increasingly have to deal with people who venture onto the tracks. There were nearly 900 such incidents last year, according to The New York Times. In some cases, passengers try to receive items that have fallen onto the tracks, such as cellphones. In others, suicidal passengers may be trying to “end it all.” But some cases are a total mystery. For example, in March, a woman in a long coat stepped off the platform at the J train’s Myrtle Avenue station and started walking down the tracks toward Manhattan, the Times reported. In other cases, people end up on the tracks as a result of foul play. In May, a man started arguing with a straphanger on the A train platform at Jay Street-MetroTech, then pushed him onto the tracks, where he lost consciousness. In that incident, the motorman of an incoming train hit the brakes, got out of his cab and helped the man, who later regained consciousness, the New York Post reported. Whatever the reason, such incidents can delay trains for as much as 90 minutes. Andy Byford, head of MTA, says that when bystanders see someone who is distressed, they should push the button on a Help Point column or notify a subway employee.

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