NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - At a subway station deep under
Manhattan, a dingy room is filled with rows of antique equipment
built before World War II. The weathered glass boxes and
cloth-covered cables are not part of a museum exhibit, however -
they are crucial pieces of the signal system that directs traffic
in one of the busiest subways in the world.
Much of the signal equipment at that station, at West
Fourth Street, is decades beyond its life span, and it is one of
the main culprits plaguing the overburdened subway.
As New York City's sprawling subway faces a deepening
crisis over delays, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says
that modernising the signals is a top priority. But the rollout of
a new signal network is unfolding at a glacial pace even as the
subway system is straining under the demands of a booming
ridership. Two decades after the agency began its push to upgrade
signals, work has been completed on just one line.
At the current pace, transforming every subway line
could take half a century and cost US$20 billion (S$27.9
billion).
The signal system is the hidden, unglamorous backbone
of the subway, controlling when trains can move down the tracks.
But it is so outdated that it cannot identify precisely where
trains are, requiring more room between them. And when it fails,
trains stop, delays pile up and riders fume.
With a modern signal network, trains on the system
could run closer together and therefore more frequently, allowing
the subway to absorb more riders as the city's population
grows.
New York could find inspiration overseas. Another major
city with an even older - although smaller - subway system is also
confronting soaring ridership: London. It is further along in its
ambitious effort to modernise its signals and has emerged as a
global leader in how to upgrade an aging subway, offering lessons
to New York and other cities.
London has installed a computerised signal network on
four of its 10 main subway lines, and work is underway on four
more. Of New York's 22 lines, only the L train has the advanced
signal system. A second line, the No. 7, may have it later this
year, after a delay.
In New York, the plans have been hobbled by an anaemic
schedule for upgrading tracks, a struggle to secure necessary
funding and logistical challenges on a system that never stops
running. Officials have also been reluctant to anger riders by
closing stations to do the work. It took about a decade to complete
the signal network on the L line, and work on the No. 7 line has
already taken nearly seven years.
Confronted with infrastructure dating to the 1930s and
a vast system of 472 stations (the most of any subway in the
world), officials are forced to decide which projects to prioritise
with limited financing. The transportation authority asked for
US$3.2 billion for signal and communications work in its latest
five-year capital proposal - about 10 per cent of its US$32 billion
budget request - but US$400 million was cut from the plan approved
by state leaders last year. The request reflected the need, and it
was higher than in the previous two capital plans, when the agency
requested US$2.4 billion, on average, for signals and
communications.
Though many New Yorkers believe that Mayor Bill de
Blasio runs the subways, the agency is, in fact, controlled by
Governor Andrew Cuomo. Mr Cuomo, a Democrat, like the mayor, was
focused on finishing the first segment of the Second Avenue subway
on time, but critics say he has shown far less urgency about the
deteriorating condition of the subway's signals. Transit advocates
say the agency must pour more money into signal work and accelerate
the schedule.
"Fifty years is way too far out there," Mr Thomas F.
Prendergast, former chairman of the authority, said in his final
interview before leaving the job in January. "We have to find a way
to shorten that."
New York's more than century-old subway has been
essential to the city's growth, but there is increasing alarm that
after years of progress, the system is sliding backwards. To
accommodate the nearly 6 million riders who take the subway on
weekdays - the highest level since the 1940s - the authority is
spending billions of dollars on new stations and more spacious
trains.
The opening of the Second Avenue line and its ornately
decorated stations in January was a high point for the agency, but
the signal system - the least visible yet perhaps greatest
challenge of all - remains mired in an analog era. Signal problems
account for about 13 per cent of all subway delays and are the
second most common reason for weekday delays, after overcrowding,
according to statistics from the agency.
Worsening subway service is one of the many
infrastructure challenges confronting the region, including recent
commuting upheavals at Pennsylvania Station in New York. Amtrak,
which owns the station, plans to close several tracks for repairs
that will disrupt service this summer on New Jersey Transit and the
Long Island Rail Road, two of the nation's busiest commuter
railroads.
Most of New York's subway system still relies on
antiquated technology, known as block signalling, to coordinate the
movement of trains. A modern system, known as communications-based
train control, or CBTC, is more dependable and exact, making it
possible to reduce the amount of space between trains.
A computerised signal system like CBTC is also safer
because trains can be stopped automatically. New York's quest to
install the new system began in 1991, after a subway derailment at
Union Square in Manhattan killed five people. The train operator
was speeding after he had been drinking.
More than 25 years later, the authority has little to
show for its effort to install modern signals. The L line began
using computerised signals in 2009 after about a decade of work. A
second line, the No. 7, should have received new signals last year,
but the project was delayed until the end of this year.
The process is complicated. It requires installing
transponders every 152m on the tracks, along with radios and zone
controllers, and buying new trains or upgrading them with onboard
computers, radios and speed sensors. The authority also had to
develop a design and software that was tailored to New York's
subway.
Over the years, the authority has kept pushing back the
timeline for replacing signals. In 1997, officials said every line
would be computerised by this year. By 2005, they had pushed the
deadline to 2045, and now even that target seems unrealistic.
Upgrading the signals is expensive, but an even bigger
challenge is scheduling work on such a vast system where ridership
is always high, even on weekends, Mr Prendergast said.
"The money issue, as difficult as it is, is an easier
issue to sort than how much work can the system sustain at one
given period of time," he said.
As ridership exploded on the L line, which runs between
Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan, the agency did not have enough
train cars built to communicate with the new signals.
"It took way too long, but it was a confluence of
things that made it take a while," said Mr Richard Barone, a vice
president at the Regional Plan Association, an urban policy group
that has studied New York's signals.
The authority awarded a contract for the No. 7 line
work in 2010, but Hurricane Sandy struck two years later, damaging
subway tracks and delaying the project. And officials have been
reluctant to frustrate riders by halting train service for long
stretches, leaving workers with few windows to finish the work, Mr
Barone said.
Then there is the constant uncertainty over the
authority's finances. State and city leaders feuded over the
agency's current capital plan for a year, and the agency still does
not know how Mr Cuomo will finance much of the US$8 billion he
committed towards the pared-down US$29.5 billion five-year plan.
Transit advocates say that having a stable funding source would
benefit signal work and other long-term projects.
Then there is London. A close look at how it is
attacking the same problems could provide something of a blueprint
for New York.
As its population climbs, London is facing similar
concerns about subway overcrowding. The London Underground, known
as the Tube, opened in 1863 and is the oldest subway system in the
world. It now carries about 5 million people each day, its highest
ridership ever. The crowding at rush hour is so intense that
officials sometimes must close certain stations.
The rollout of modern signals on four lines has
significantly reduced delays, making travel across this huge city
of nearly 9 million people more efficient. This month, the Victoria
line will reach a peak of 36 trains per hour - compared with 27
trains per hour a decade ago, and among the highest rates in
Europe. In New York, the Lexington Avenue line, the nation's most
crowded subway route, runs a peak of 29 trains per hour.
On the Victoria line, which already has some signal
upgrades, riders enjoy reliable service and a constant flow of
trains.
"I've never been stuck waiting for a train," Mr Joe
Brooke, a 20-year-old student, said as he rode the line on a recent
afternoon. "It's convenient, easy, quick."
London has moved more quickly on signals because
officials completed the work on each line faster as they gained
experience, prioritised funding for the project and were willing to
face commuter wrath when closing stations. The projects have
required disruptive weekend closings and a major overhaul of the
system's infrastructure.
"People think it's just a few computers - how could it
be so expensive?" Mr Mark Wild, managing director of the London
Underground, said in an interview at his office.
"It's new trains, new track, new power. The signals are
a relatively small piece of the capital cost, but it's the bit that
unlocks it."
The project to modernise the next four lines is
expected to cost roughly £5.5 billion (S$9.9 billion) and increase
capacity on those lines by a third. Funding in London is generally
less challenging because the system relies on higher fares than New
York and on a capital grant from the national government. But
scheduling work is also easier because the subway has not
traditionally run round-the-clock, as New York's system has. The
Tube only recently introduced overnight service on some routes.
Over the years, officials learned from each line and
settled on standard technology, Mr Wild said. The Northern line
modernisation was completed in about three years - a shorter period
than on other lines.
"The key thing to get across is: The duration to do
these jobs gets shorter and shorter the more you do it," Mr Wild
said.
Tube riders applaud the results. Ms Maes Al-Gabry, 25,
who recently moved to London from New York, said she often found
herself waiting - and waiting - on subway platforms in New York. On
the Tube, a train arrives every minute or two.
"It's so much more reliable," she said as she rode the
Victoria line on a recent afternoon.
London is also working to ease overcrowding by building
a new line and buying roomier subway trains, with accordion-style
connectors between cars. A new route called the Elizabeth line will
open in London next year, with plans for 10 new stations and 42km
of new tunnels. The plan, known as Crossrail, is the largest
infrastructure project in Europe, costing about £15 billion.
But Transport for London, the agency that runs the
Tube, has faced obstacles, too. In 2013, it cancelled a contract
with Bombardier, a transportation company, over concerns that it
could not complete signal work on four older lines on time, and
started over with a different company.
The agency lost time and money, but officials learned
from the mistake, said Mr Stephen Joseph, executive director of
Campaign for Better Transport, an advocacy group.
"There's a feeling Transport for London knows how to do
this now," Mr Joseph said.
New York subway officials are working to replace track
and cable equipment on the lines with the oldest infrastructure and
to move the No. 7 train to a modern signal system. Signals on the
Queens Boulevard line will be upgraded next.
But in Queens, regular weekend closings on the No. 7
line have set off an uproar. Some people have moved rather than
endure unending disruptions, said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, a
Democrat who represents western Queens.
"We have people who are just at their wits' end," Mr
Van Bramer said. "They're incredibly frustrated and incredibly
angry, and there is no end in sight."
Mr Barone, of the Regional Plan Association, argues
that New York should schedule longer closings to finish the work
more quickly. Mr Van Bramer agreed that it would be better to
simply "rip the Band-Aid" off by doing all the work at once.
Mr Wynton Habersham, head of the subway department at
the transportation authority, said he would prefer longer closings,
too, but the agency has to weigh the impact on riders.
"The reality is, if we had our druthers, we'd probably
shut an entire line down to do a signal project," he said. "But to
do that brings a lot of inconvenience and brings a lot of pain to
our customers."
On a recent evening, Mr Habersham walked along the
train tracks near 34th Street in Manhattan as workers replaced
antiquated switches and cables. A signal system should last about
50 years, he said, but the one that guides trains through this
slice of Manhattan has been in place for about 80.
"We're at a point now where it's getting difficult to
maintain the system," he said. "We're maintaining it and it's safe,
but it's 30 years beyond its useful life."
ST