Report Finds Many Unsafe Subway Platform Edges

Photograph of a subway platform rubbing board at the Kings Highway station by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/triborough/666134447/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Triborough on Flickr</a>

In January 2008, 14-year-old Avi Katz fell into the subway tracks at Brooklyn's Kings Highway station when edge of the subway platform—a wooden rubbing board—crumbled beneath him. Luckily, Katz managed to get back onto the platform (after three tries) and avoid being hit by a train, but the incident raised concerns about other stations with potentially dangerous platforms. Now, the MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger has released a report criticizing NYC Transit for failing to maintain them: The Post reports, "The investigation revealed visibly deteriorating yellow bars -- called rubbing boards -- at 23 of 27 stations last year that MTA workers classified as being safe." Kluger said, "Transit has had a long-term history of ineffectively dealing with the issue of platform edges."

Even though the NYC Transit reviewed platform edges after the January 2008 incident, Kluger said the MTA's inspections were inconsistent, "creat[ing] a false impression of system safety." amNY mentioned one example from the report, "An edge at the Newkirk Avenue station on the No. 2 line was evaluated as 'OK,' 'loose' and 'in need of repair' by different inspectors, but no one fixed it during the 19-day period."

Kluger also says the MTA was slow to fix problem boards; according to the Daily News, "The agency is so backlogged... that the deadline for completing 59 percent of the work was pushed back from August 2008 to December 2009." The News spoke to Katz, now 15; he said he avoids the subway, "Every time a train passes me, I freeze up."