The growing controversy over subway deaths has stricken all parties involved in the transportation scene.

The MTA, stuck with little cash to maneuver, has provided flat solutions, including platform doors and laser alarm systems, that are getting nowhere because, given, the agency can't get past the whole price tag thing. The Transport Workers Union Local has informed its conductors to slow down but this advice was chastised by the MTA as a major service delayer. As a result, the emergency meeting called by Councilman Joe Vacca ended in a yelling match between the union and the agency. And then there's the NYPD, with its officers busy Big-Brother-ing the mentally ill.

Needless to say, this controversy has hit a brick wall... at the worst time possible.

In the past five days, seven people have been struck by a subway. Do the math: that's more than a person a day. If that's not enough reason to spark urgency to this situation, we seriously have no idea what is.

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Okay, the platform doors, laser alert system and the advice for conductors to slow down were one thing. But this goes a little above and beyond that.

Yesterday, news came that the NYPD, in accordance with the Health Department, has tracked down 25 mentally ill patients that have been deemed dangerous and on "mental hygiene warrants." And, contrary to the MTA and the Transit Workers Union, the NYPD has no problem going right ahead with this "solution" to the subway death problem.
Apparently, the law enforcement agency is using this "real life crime center" to arrest them, which we believe is similar to the one Morgan Freeman's character has access to in The Dark Knight.

In other words, the NYPD is on the lookout for those behind the subway incidents that have occurred over the past few months -- situations where innocent passerby's were pushed onto the tracks by said suspects, all of which have raised major concerns about subway safety in recent weeks. The "epidemic" even prompted an emergency hearing by Councilman Joe Vacca (except it basically turned into a yelling match between the MTA and the union).

We're still unsure if surveillance is the best or the creepiest way to combat this problem. Actually wait, no, the bloody MetroCards were. But this is a close second.

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Updated 4:30 p.m.:

MTA promises to have all trains back up and running for your evening commute. Service wasn't completely restored at 3:30 this afternoon, so maybe if you hang around the office late tonight, your train will be waiting when you finally leave. Good luck getting home!

Updated 1:00 p.m.:

The DEP has now revealed that the flooding started when a 36" pipe broke beneath 25th and Fifth Avenue. They say they're still investigating why the pipe in question burst, but we're pretty sure we already know the answer -- the thing was from 1915! Apparently 98-year-old pipe isn't very sturdy.

The DEP also tells us that your water should be back on now.

Updated 12:30 p.m.:

FDNY says that no one was injured during the earlier evacuation of the 23rd Street station.

The MTA is doing their best to restore service by rerouting the effected trains. Here's their update on the severely-impacted train schedule: "Both directions R trains are running on the F line between 36 St Station (Qns) and 34 St-Herald Sq Station, then run on the D or N line in both directions between 34 St-Herald Sq Station and DeKalb Av Station. Allow additional travel time."

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is reportedly still working on patching the water main, but in the meantime, water is shut off in much of downtown. The Voice offices are all the way over near Astor Place, but we've got no water here.

If you're having problems with the water pressure in your building, you can report it here, although you'll likely fall pretty low on the priority list -- y'know, somewhere behind the giant flood.

Also, we've added a video to our collection of fun and disturbing flood imagery (below). Check it out!

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A water main near the 23rd Street - Broadway station broke around 10:40 a.m., causing the entire station to be evacuated. The N, Q, and R trains are currently shut down between the Whitehall Street and 57th Street stops, and MTA is warning commuters to expect major delays on those lines. Between this and Sandy, it seems like the subway will never dry out.

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We've heard about the platform doors on the L train. We've told you about the Transport Workers Union Local telling conductors to hit the brakes more. And we've gone over the 'emergency meeting' called by City Councilman James Vacca next week to discuss what the hell the MTA and straphangers alike can do about this subway death epidemic facing the City.

So, at this point, we'll take anything we can get.

Yesterday, the Daily News reported on the latest from the transportation heads: an alarm system that will send off all sorts of noises and signals if someone falls into the tracks. Interim head Thomas Pendergast announced on Monday that laser beams, typically used for security, could sense when someone is in an unwarranted area (like, uh, on the tracks). Once activated, the laserz would set off the alarms to get the conductors attention.

Hopefully, he or she would have enough time to react in order for the person to pull themselves out of harm's way.

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All power to him.

Yesterday, City Councilman and Transportation Committee chair James Vacca called for an "emergency hearing" on a problem that cannot escape the headlines: the increasingly high tendency of straphangers to, either purposefully or by matter of coercion, come to their deaths on the subway tracks. The announcement came almost immediately after it was discovered that a man had committed suicide in front of the 2 train at Times Square earlier that day.

According to Vacca, the "emergency hearing" needs to be collaborative in order to find a solution: ""The MTA needs to bring all the stakeholders to the table and acknowledge that this is a serious problem that demands a coordination solution, and they must tell the public what their plan is... Even one life lost on our subway tracks is one life too many."

On average, subway trains in New York hit about 150 people a year, killing a third of them. So, yes, Vacca is definitely onto something. And maybe this "emergency hearing" can provide some solutions to a situation that seriously demands them.

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This might work a bit better than those experimental sliding doors on the L train we told you about yesterday.More »

Naeem Davis

The man who confessed to pushing a Queens man in front of an oncoming subway train on Monday was arraigned yesterday, at which point he briefly gave his description of the incident that claimed the life of 58-year-old Ki Suk Han.

According to the suspect, 30-year-old Naeem Davis, Han started the fight that ended when Davis tossed him on the tracks.

"He attacked me first. He grabbed me," Davis reportedly told the media as was walking into his arraignment.

Outside of the courthouse, Davis' attorney, James Lin, told reporters that his client "was involved in an incident with a man who was drunk and angry."

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Naeem Davis

The homeless thug who police say pushed a Queens man in front of a subway train on Monday has officially been charged with murder in the gruesome death, authorities said this afternoon.

Naeem Davis, 30, confessed yesterday that he and the victim, 58-year-old Ki Suk Han, had been arguing on their way into the Times Square Q Train subway stop on Monday afternoon. After the argument escalated, Davis pushed Han onto the tracks as a train was barreling into the station.

The train crushed Han to death.

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Subway slay suspect Naeem Davis

The man who allegedly pushed a Queens man to his death at a Times Square subway stop on Monday told police that he watched the man die -- he reportedly says he heard his "torso snap."

The suspect, 30-year-old drifter Naeem Davis, admitted to police that he shoved Queens father Ki Suk Han onto the tracks as a train was approaching. He says he stayed and watched as the train struck Suk Han.

Davis was busted about 1:30 p.m. yesterday near 50th Street and Seventh Avenue when a transit cop recognized him.

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You may have heard what has been called "subway grinding." On the subway, there is a sign that warns, "Sexual harassment is a crime in the subway, too. A crowded train is no excuse for an improper touch." The inclusion of the "too" in the first sentence always confused me; are we to assume that once you go underground, all rules of morality are tossed out the window? As if we needed to be reminded that the subway platform is not a wasteland of ethics and actual law and order does exist on those tracks.More »