3
SEPTEMBER 22, 2019, COURIER LIFE
VIRTUE SIGNALING
MTA to modernize three Brooklyn subway signal systems
in fifi ve-year capital plan
A-OK: The A train runs along three Brooklyn lines that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to upgrade with new signaling systems as part of its massive $51 billion capital plan.
Photo by Kevin Duggan
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
City transit offi cials are sending
out signals!
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority will modernize decades
old signaling systems serving
sections of three Brooklyn
subway lines as part of a recordbreaking
fi ve-year capital plan announced
earlier this week.
Transit honchos committed
to replacing the manual signaling
system — which in some cases
dates back to the 1930s — in favor
of a computer-controlled system
that will ensure speedier service
by 2024 as part of the authority’s
$51.5 billion plan — the costliest in
the agency’s history, according to
its chief.
“This proposed 2020-2024 Capital
Program – the most ambitious
capital plan in the agency’s
history – builds on the success of
the Subway Action Plan, and with
new tools such as Design-Build
and the reorganization that is underway
we’re certain we can deliver
for our customers,” said the
agency’s chairman and chief executive
offi cer Patrick Foye. “This
plan expands service, increases
reliability, speeds up the system,
and delivers the world’s largest
ever investment in accessibility,
for both NYC Transit and the
MTA’s commuter railroads, and
at the end of this fi ve-year period,
New Yorkers will see a revitalized
and modern system for the 21st
century and beyond.”
The plan will set aside $40 billion
for the agency’s Five Borough
transit arm and $7.1 billion specifi -
cally to upgrade the signaling system
of six subway lines across the
city, including the following fi ve
trains going along three Kings
County lines:
• The A and C lines between Jay
Street-MetroTech in Downtown
Brooklyn and Euclid Avenue in
East New York.
• The G train between Hoyt-
Schermerhorn in Downtown Brooklyn
to Court Square in Queens.
• The 4 and 5 lines between from
the Bronx, down through Manhattan
and to Nevins Street on the
border of Downtown Brooklyn and
Fort Greene.
The agency has so far installed
that new system on the L train and
the Queens-Manhattan 7-train.
To support the new system, transit
workers plan to build new power
substations and contact rail, and
the signaling upgrade work will
reportedly necessitate closures, according
to the chief of the agency’s
New York City operation.
“We will need to make great use,
extensive use, of weekends,” Andy
Byford told the New York Daily
News . “We’re not ruling out line
closures.”
The agency will borrow half of
the money for the plan — some $25
billion — through bonds, which it
plans to pay off with revenues from
the state’s planned congestion pricing
and its recently-enacted legislature
to collect a so-called mansion
tax, in addition to the expected
windfall from closing a sales tax
loophole for online retail platforms
like Amazon.
The plan also relies on $10.7 billion
from Uncle Sam along with $3
billion each from the city and state,
along with almost $10 billion of the
agency’s own bonds.
In addition to the signal modernization,
the agency will also make
66 new subway stations accessible
for people with disabilities and fasttrack
four current accessibility upgrades
by the end of this year, but
the agency’s spokespeople could not
specify which stations would be affected
in Brooklyn.
The MTA will also build new
approaches to the Verrazzano-Narrows
Bridge and widen two miles of
the eastbound Belt Parkway.
For the entire city transit system,
the Authority seeks to buy
1,900 subway cars and 2,400 new
buses, replacing 2,200 of its oldest
buses and growing its fl eet by 175.
Some 500 of those buses will be
electric and the agency wants to
spend $1.1 billion to modify its bus
depots for electric bus operations.
The plan still needs approval by
the agency’s board, which is likely
to vote on it at its next general
board meeting on Sept. 25, before
submitting it for review by a board
of representatives of Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s and Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s offi ces, along with reps
from both state legislative chambers
on Oct. 1, who have another 90
days to approve it.