MTA Announces Plans To Install Netting To Catch Falling Debris On The No. 7 Line In Woodside, Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is ready to do something about the debris that keeps falling from platforms, damaging cars.
This after another piece of debris was reported to have fallen along the tracks of the No. 7 subway line in Woodside, Queens.
Local officials and community members are frustrated, but the MTA is assuring the public it's going to deal with the problem, CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reported
The agency announced plans to install netting to catch any falling debris, following a troubling incident on Monday when a woman was nearly hurt after a chunk of metal fell to the ground along Roosevelt Avenue near 53rd Street as she was crossing the street.
"It wasn't going to kill me, but it was going to hurt me," the woman said.
It was at least the fifth reported incident of debris falling from the tracks along the 7 line.
Back in February, a wooden plank plunged from the tracks and pierced a car's windshield, narrowly missing the driver.
In March, a chunk of metal crashed down on to a car in Long Island City.
It's not just the 7 line either, as a bolt apparently fell from the A train tracks in Queens and damaged a car just days later in March.
Another woman said it was falling metal that shattered her back windshield in the Bronx last month.
The MTA has not specified where the netting will be installed. The agency said it still has to find a vendor for the supplies, but said it hopes the task is completed this summer.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer has been very outspoken about the falling subway debris.
"It shouldn't have taken this long, but now we need the details," Van Bramer said. "Where is the netting going to go up and when is it going to go up? Clearly, we have an emergency here. We cannot continue to have steel bolts dropping all over Woodside, Queens."
Van Bramer also asked the MTA to release a full assessment of why these incidents have happened in the first place. He wants to know if they're due to structural neglect, maintenance or human error.
The transit agency said the 7 line has undergone multiple inspections over the last few months, adding the most recent debris appears to have broken clean with no signs of slow deterioration.
Duddridge also reached out to the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but did not immediately hear back.
