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NARR CF: New York's subway is one of the few transit systems in the country that has not upgraded to a computerized track switching system. This change allows for more efficient track switching and provides precise information of any train's location. The mechanical switching technology has not seen any major change since it was built in New York in 1904. Currently, track circuits detect a train's location in a range of areas, but it is very imprecise. The T, the nation's oldest subway system in Boston, converted to a computerized system in 1997. Mike Glennen is Supervisor of Dispatchers at the Operations Center at the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority.
TAPE #1 MG: The old mechanical system, basically, you had them on track circuitry, but you had no graphics to back that up.
NARR CF: New York still uses this mechanical switching system, making it impossible for train controllers to know exactly where trains are. Currently, through the relay rooms, nearly a dozen master towers around the city convey a train's location. But it is relatively ineffcient and a computerized system would streamline train operations.
TAPE #2 MG: Out in the field with the old manual system all you had was a little red light on a control board. It didn't give you basically the train numbers, where exactly that train looks like -- like 100 yards outside of a station. You never had that, all you had was red dots going back and forth.
NARR CF: Later this year, New York has plans to begin implementing a computerized system similar to those in San Francisco and Boston. This is known as "communications-based train control", or CBTC. It will begin on the L line this summer. MTA spokesman Charles Seaton explains that CBTC would make an event like last month's fire a near impossibility due to more modern wire casing.
TAPE #3 CS: With CBTC you'd be looking at modernized equipment, which would be less likely to have a fire. They'd put all new equipment in, which would be fireproof. You're not going to integrate CBTC equipment with 75 years old relay rooms and cabling.
NARR CF: But until the CBTC expands to other parts of the subway line, the older, mechanical switches in the Chambers Street station will still have to be replaced, says Dr. Elliot Sclar, Professor of Urban Planning at Columbia University.
TAPE #4 ES: It was sad that they would have to spend all that money on what was in the longer-term, essentially, a temporary fix.
NARR CF: The fire will not speed up the process of converting some of the lines to a computerized switching system. CBTC testing is currently set to begin in April, with fully computerized switching set for July. Once the upgrade of the L line is complete, the MTA plans to expand the CBTC system to the number seven and F lines. Cyrus Farivar, Columbia Radio News.