Second Ave. Sagas

White Plains Line (5) Express service suspended until November

Written by

Benjamin Kabak

in

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As a service to those SAS readers who ride the 5 in the Bronx, an announcement: Due to signal modernization efforts at E. 180th St., Transit will be suspending 5 express service in both directions along the White Plains Line in the Bronx from now until Nov. 11, 2009. All trains will run local between the 3rd Ave./E. 149th St. station and the E. 180th St. station. Furthermore, during the afternoon rush, four northbound 5 trains that usually run to Nereid Ave. will terminate at E. 180th St. Transit urges riders to switch to northbound 2 trains at E. 180th St. or other Nereid Ave.-bound 5 trains.

Per the agency press release, “The three month suspension of express service is necessary in order to accommodate the ongoing $280 million East 180th Street Signal Modernization Project. The scope of work includes the reconfiguration of track, installation of new signal equipment, the construction of a new relay room and additional Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) functionality for the Dyre/White Plains Road line.” It’s another part of the piecemeal system upgrade that should one day allow for CBTC and OPTO trains on the IRT lines.

Comments

5 responses to “White Plains Line (5) Express service suspended until November”

  1. Andrew

    CBTC and OPTO? What does this have to do with CBTC and OPTO?

    Reply
    1. Adam G

      Andrew, you can’t use the existing wayside signals for CBTC. Wiring and infrastructure for the train control computers to read to be able to track position and velocity needs to be put into place.

      Reply
      1. Andrew

        CBTC doesn’t need wayside signals at all, except as a backup to accommodate non-CBTC-compatible trains. The wayside signals on the rest of the White Plains Road line were just replaced in the past few years, and I haven’t seen any mention of new CBTC-equipped cars (or new CBTC equipment added to existing cars) for the 2 and 5. This clearly isn’t a CBTC project. This is merely a replacement of old signals with new ones, along with a new signal design and connection to ATS. (ATS has nothing to do with CBTC – ATS is already up and running on most of the IRT.)

        And OPTO has nothing whatsoever to do with the signal system – in fact, OPTO is already used on the late night 5 shuttle, and has been for about 10 years (before the R142’s arrived, I remember riding R62A’s on the late night shuttle, borrowed from the 6). The only possible connection – and this is a labor issue, not a technical issue – is that it’s easier to argue for OPTO in an ATO world, where the train operator isn’t actively operating the train. That’s certainly not coming any time soon to the 2 or 5!

        Reply
        1. Benjamin Kabak

          I was under the impression that the MTA was undergoing signal modernization work throughout the system in order to provide for the capacity to bring CBTC online in the future. Part of the MTA’s current plans to alleviate overcrowding along the IRT lines involves introducing CBTC to those lines. I could be wrong though.

          Reply
  2. TCeez

    The signal modernization on IRT lines would place them at the back of the line for CBTC upgrades.

    These upgrades mean the 5 line will be in a signal State of Good repair so therefore not a CBTC priority

    The lines that have NOT YET recieved upgrades (Most of the IND/BMT) would leapfrog these updates and go straight to CBTC.

    CBTC on the IRT during the next upgrade cycle, probably 50 years.

    Reply

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