on this page
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Markets
Transportation
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Location
New York City, NY
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Client
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority
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Completion date
Ongoing
Taylor Wright
VP, Principal Business Development Director, Atlanta, GA, USA contact form+1 678 247 2425
More people travel daily on the New York City subway than the total number of passengers checking into flights at all commercial airports in the United States combined. However, many New York City Transit subway system lines still rely on 100-year-old signaling technology. To modernize its signaling system, our team is helping the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NY MTA), the subway operator, install communications-based train control (CBTC) across three subway lines:
- The Fulton-Liberty Line, which runs east-west through Brooklyn
- The Crosstown Line, which runs from western Brooklyn to southwest Queens
- The 6th Avenue and 63rd Street Line, which runs north-south through the west side of Manhattan under 63rd Street on the borough’s Upper East Side
The project continues MTA’s ongoing effort to install CBTC on all New York City subway system trains. In 2009 and 2019, the agency installed the technology on its Flushing and Canarsie Lines, respectively.
CBTC uses sensors installed on trains and wayside equipment to wirelessly communicate location information between trains. This offers several key benefits for railway systems:
- Improved safety: Providing accurate train location data helps reduce the risk of accidents by regulating train speed and maintaining safe distances between trains.
- Increased capacity: Maximizing the use of existing railway infrastructure allows trains to run closer together, resulting in higher train frequencies and better service for passengers.
- Enhanced reliability: Continuous communication between trains and track equipment enables operators to receive real-time updates. This reduces delays and ensures more consistent and reliable train operations.
- Better passenger experience: By providing more precise train location information, CBTC improves the accuracy of real-time arrival updates and makes travel more predictable.
- Operational Efficiency: CBTC systems can automate various train control functions, minimizing the need for manual intervention and lowering operational costs.
Installing CBTC can be time consuming, especially in New York City which boasts the largest subway system in North America. This complex system still uses interlocking machines and electrical panels designed in the 1930s that require careful planning and expertise to replace. Since the subway operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, limiting working windows for construction crews is important to reduce the impact on the hundreds of thousands of riders using these lines daily. To ensure services are not disrupted while the Crosstown Line is currently under construction, we worked closely with the contractor to develop a proper implementation schedule and established training programs for NY MTA staff to operate the system. Our team is also providing technical support and oversight as wayside equipment is integrated next to tracks with the fleet equipment on the trains.
Long term, NY MTA hopes to reduce the time required to install CBTC across its B-Division (15 lines and two shuttles) from 40 years to 10 years. Leveraging our global expertise – having executed more than a dozen CBTC projects in London, Dubai, Toronto, Vancouver and more – we are successfully navigating complex infrastructural and organizational challenges to help the agency install this technology as a model for future implementation on the remaining system.
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