The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is spending up to $1,900 each for stainless-steel, waist-high gates it erects at subway stations, meaning the structures at a station such as First Avenue on the L line, with 62 barriers, cost roughly $100,000 for materials.
Transit officials say the MTA will bolt down the barricades at 100 stations to give riders some protection from a shove or a slip onto subway tracks by the end of 2025, following a January order from Gov. Kathy Hochul. The governor’s order followed the high-profile shoving of a man onto subway tracks at the West 18th Street station on the 1 line in Manhattan.
So far, the MTA has installed the platform barriers at 17 stations, with all but three on the L line, and plans to install the boxy steel railing with metal fencing at stations on nine other subway lines. Stops with higher ridership and island platforms are being prioritized.
The agency disclosed the costs to Crain’s New York Business following months of inquiries and a formal public records request. The costs of the basic barriers add up quickly: Depending on the length — they’re built in a mix of sizes — the MTA spends between $1,500 and $1,900 on the stainless steel that its employees weld together. That figure excludes the cost of labor to build and install them. The MTA declined to provide an estimate of the labor costs because the employees working on them are doing unrelated work as well; the authority also declined to name the vendor it is purchasing the metal from.
MTA spokesman Eugene Resnick noted that “negotiations are underway to obtain materials at a reduced cost” now that the authority is speeding up its timeline to build and install the fences to hit Hochul’s 2025 mandate.
The MTA’s spending on steel for the barriers provides a snapshot at how state agency costs on seemingly mundane equipment can quickly add up. “It’s a good window into what it takes to go from a problem to a potential solution,” said Andrew Rein, president of government watchdog the Citizens Budget Commission. “It’s not simple, and it’s not cheap.”
At least one fencing manufacturer said the MTA’s spending on materials is roughly in line with what he’d expect to charge for making the barriers. Kyle Xu, project manager of the Long Island-based Royal Stainless Fence and Railing Inc., estimated the cost at roughly $1,800 in materials to build similar stainless steel gates to those installed in the subway.
The number of barriers added to stations varies based on length. At the 1st Avenue station in Manhattan on the L line, for instance, the MTA lined the station with 62 barriers, meaning it cost roughly $100,000 for the materials. In Brooklyn, at the Clark Street station on the 2 and 3 lines, 61 barriers line the island platform.
At the current rates, the price tag for barriers at 100 stations could cost more than $9 million.
The MTA estimates that if it were to hire outside help to build the barriers that would cost the authority two to three times more than what the agency is currently spending, said Resnick.
Funds to build more barriers are coming from the state’s coffers, as part of a $3 billion investment in new safety infrastructure in the subway system, planned as part of the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan.
It’s unclear precisely how much the state intends to spend on erecting the protective fencing in the subway because negotiations to fund the capital plan are ongoing between state lawmakers, Hochul and transit officials, said Tim Ruffinen, a spokesman for Hochul’s budget office.
The MTA began testing out the in-house manufactured steel barriers as a quicker, cheaper way to help travelers feel less vulnerable on platforms as transit officials explore more costly mechanical doors, which block access to the tracks until a train arrives. The authority has said that higher-tech options would not be feasible for many subway platforms that are too narrow or couldn’t bear the extra weight of the barriers.
A MTA-commissioned study that took a close look at the concept in 2022 declared that it would cost an eye-watering $7 billion to install the barriers at 128 stations — less than a third of the subway system.
