The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Transit Innovation Partnership launched a new “COVID-19 Response Challenge” in an effort to engage the private tech industry and rapidly evaluate and deploy innovative technologies that make public transit safer, healthier and more responsive to customer and workforce needs in light of the global pandemic.
Sally Librera, the first woman appointed MTA New York City Transit Senior Vice President Subways, has resigned, effective July 24.
Among the final duties that former MTA New York City Transit Vice President Network and Resignaling Pete Tomlin discharged before he left the agency following Andy Byford’s resignation as President was demonstrating an innovative piece of new technology—UWB (Ultra-Wide Band), wireless technology that offers faster and less-expensive installation of modern CBTC (communications-based train control) by eliminating much of the onboard and wayside equipment traditionally required for advanced-technology signaling. Tomlin—arguably one of the finest signaling and train control people on the planet—collaborated with suppliers Thales and Piper Networks in an impressive public demonstration of UWB.
If you are looking to understand of the history of New York City Transit’s Second Avenue Subway, read “Last Subway, The Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City” by Philip Mark Plotch. The author clearly did his research on the subject. The book explains in detail why progress has been so slow for construction of the long-anticipated Second Avenue Subway.
New York has long been known as the “City That Never Sleeps,” partly because its subway system has, with very few exceptions (Superstorm Sandy and 9/11 among them) continuously operated 24/7 since it opened in 1904. That will soon change, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced that the system—plagued with homeless people who have turned it into a trash-strewn shelter—will shut down for four hours, between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m., every night, beginning in the early hours of Wednesday, May 6, for cleaning. As well, the MTA has instituted new rules implemented new rules to restrict those who have been camping on the system.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo predicted last year that the Canarsie Tunnels between Brooklyn and Fourteenth Street in Manhattan on New York City Transit’s L train line would be repaired without a major service disruption. He was correct. Cuomo announced on April 26 that the service reductions necessitated by the tunnel repair project were over, and that both tunnels would be open for service on April 27 under the New York MTA Essential Service Plan. His announcement came on the one-year anniversary of the beginning of reduced service.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on April 20 announced that the number of employees who have returned to work following mandatory quarantines is now higher than those still out on quarantine. System-wide, 5,033 employees have returned to work, compared with 4,112 employees currently out on quarantine.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) President of Construction & Development Janno Lieber detailed some of the core projects that will be awarded in 2020 as part of the historic $54.8 billion 2020-2024 Capital Program. In addition, the Partnership for New York City’s Transit Tech Lab, MTA and four other transportation agencies announced that nine start-up companies have been selected to pilot cutting-edge technologies that aim to improve accessibility, revenue generation and traffic congestion.
Following the controversial departure of Andy Byford as MTA New York City Transit on Feb. 21, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has appointed former Federal Railroad Administrator and MTA board member and Transit Committee Chair Sarah E. Feinberg as his interim replacement. Feinberg will oversee NYCT subway, bus and paratransit services and the Staten Island Railway, operated by a 48,000-person workforce.
MTA New York City Transit announced plans to develop and purchase up to 949 new R262 subway cars with an open-gangway configuration, designed for the A Division (numbered lines), that would increase passenger flow to allow customers to move freely between cars, and have the potential to improve dwell times at stations and increase capacity.
