Some of Midtown's most-trafficked subway stations have shaky platform edges that could put riders at risk, according to the Post. Nine months after a study determined that the dangerous conditions caused straphangers to fall onto the tracks, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not entirely overhauled station rubbing boards — the pieces of wood at the very edge of subway platforms.
The tabloid notes that the rubbing boards, which are designed to prevent damage to subway cars as they bump platform edges, are in particularly bad shape on the downtown F platform at the 34th Street station, and the uptown B and D platform at 47-50th Streets/Rockefeller Center station. In these two transit hubs — which are the third- and 13th-most used stations in the system — the rubbing boards have actually separated from the platform, "leaving them weak and with hazardous, inch-wide gaps." Queens commuter Katerhina Martin, 38, told the paper: "They're shaky! I have been standing on these boards and thought to myself, 'Is this going to fall down with me on it?'"
An MTA Transit spokesman said the agency would finish repairing the 34th Street platform in two to three weeks. Last January, a 14-year-old fell onto the tracks in the Kings Highway station when the rubbing board crumbled beneath him. Months later, the MTA's Inspector General released a study indicating that the agency "has had a long-term history of ineffectively dealing with the issue of platform edges." Maybe it's safest to just stay behind the yellow line.
