A worrisome statistic: More going onto subway tracks

NEW YORK — The man stood casually on the subway tracks, his face showing no sign of terror as he stared down a 360-ton train.

The train operator spotted him and stopped the train just in time, sparing his life. Then the man climbed onto the platform and disappeared.

“‘It was totally bizarre how he was so calm,”’ Doug Latino, a subway rider, said of the man he saw recently on the tracks at Grand Central Station in Manhattan.

Anxious witnesses were relieved that the man survived, but frustrated that the incident set off a cascade of train delays.

The episode was far from unusual. As subway officials work to pull the system out of crisis, their effort to run trains on time is hampered by ancient signals, creaky trains and, increasingly, people venturing onto the tracks — sometimes in a suicide attempt, but more often for other reasons. There were nearly 900 incidents last year in which someone was on the tracks or was hit by a train after getting too close while on the platform.

This year, the number of incidents is on pace to rise even higher — a worrisome trend that subway officials are struggling to curtail.

“‘In New York, we have more incidents of people on the tracks than anywhere else I’ve worked,” said subway official Andy Byford, who also was a top transit official in London, Sydney and Toronto.

There are many reasons people end up on the tracks: Passengers are drunk, confused or urinating, or they drop something and try to retrieve it. Escaped prisoners have even climbed on the rails.

In a small number of horrifying cases, someone is pushed off the platform.

Subway leaders speculate the increase might be in part because of the many homeless people who frequent the system or the ubiquity of expensive smartphones that drop to the tracks.

Last year, 43 of the 900 incidents were believed to be suicides or attempted suicides, subway officials said, noting that it is often difficult to determine what motivates people.

Byford said he understands that some tragic cases involve New Yorkers with emotional problems. But he has a clear message: Being on the tracks is dangerous and could lead to criminal charges.

Most transit systems wrestle with the problem of riders climbing onto the tracks, but the challenge is more pronounced in New York, with more than 5 million daily riders and a sprawling system of 472 stations — the most stations of any subway in the world. Cities including Paris and Hong Kong have installed walls and platform doors at some stations to curb the problem.

In New York, each incident can take an hour to 90 minutes to resolve, depending on where it happens and whether the power to the rails is cut off, Byford said. If someone dies on the tracks, the time needed to restore train service can stretch even Passengers make their way through the Union Square station in New York to ride on one of the many train lines that stop there during rush hour. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority began its $800 million subway rescue plan last July, but the system remains plagued by delays.

longer because the train crew must wait for law-enforcement to remove the body.

This past Thursday, an “unauthorized person on the tracks” in Brooklyn caused havoc on the A line. Power was turned off in both directions for a half-hour while police searched for the man.

The incidents also are disturbing for subway workers and riders who witness a gruesome death or injury. “‘It’s unbelievably traumatic for the train crew,” Byford said.

There have been a series of heartbreaking cases, including a woman who jumped onto the tracks with her 2-month-old baby this summer. But there have been bizarre episodes — a woman strolling down outdoor tracks in Brooklyn last year, confounding other riders — and reports of frustrated riders escaping from stalled trains.

With a system that runs around the clock and no barrier between riders and the tracks, it is impossible to keep people from ending up where they should not Subway rider Doug Latino snapped this photo of a man standing on the subway tracks at Grand Central Station in Manhattan. The train stopped in time, sparing his life, but the man disappeared. be. But subway riders might not realize how perilous the tracks can be. They could be electrocuted by the third rail, a steel column that carries 600 volts of electricity. It also is difficult to pull yourself back onto the platform once you are on the tracks.

“Don’t even think about it,” Byford said. “If you drop something, let us know. Do not go on the tracks under any circumstances.”

One solution that has been discussed for at least a decade is platform doors. London, for example, has glass walls lining some platforms to prevent people and objects from falling onto the tracks. But they are expensive, and officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the subway, have said that installing them across the system could cost more than $1 billion.

For now, officials are working with the police to remove people from the tracks quickly and with social-service agencies to help the homeless. If riders see someone who is distressed, they should press a button on a Help Point column or notify a subway worker.

This year, there have been 621 subway incidents involving a person who is on the tracks or struck by a train — a figure that puts the agency on pace for more incidents than last year.

Byford has promised to cut the number of monthly train delays by 10,000. More than a year after officials began a rescue plan to fix the subway, delays have remained persistently high. The on-time rate still hovers around 65 percent — about the same as a year ago and the lowest rate since the 1970s.

To get help for yourself or someone else, contact the Franklin County Suicide Prevention Hotline at 614221-5445; the Teen Suicide Prevention Hotline at 614294-3300; or the national Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255(TALK), or 1-888-628-9454 for Spanish speakers. To reach someone at Ohio’s 24/7 Crisis Text Line, send 4HOPE to 741741.