As the MTA tries to fulfill its promise of restoring A train service over Broad Channel and to the Rockaways by the end of June, a few bits of news have trickled out regarding the status of these efforts. First, the MTA announced late last week that indicator board in the signal tower at Rockaway Park – Beach 116th St. is up and running once again. In other words, the signal system — which had been utterly destroyed by Sandy — is up and running again.
According to the MTA, this is no small feat. The signal system in place in the Rockaways is decades old, and the MTA burned through its supply of spare parts. Crews had to refurbish old parts that were inundated with salt water or find replacements. These efforts will be magnified as other signals knocked out by Sandy and its floodwaters continue to degrade. Still, work remains, as Joe LaPorta, a signal engineer said. “The TA signal shop rebuilds these. They can’t even get them from a manufacturer anymore,” he explained. “By the end of the day, we might have all this cleared up here. But the yard part we can’t clear up, because we’re still waiting for parts.”
With the signal system on the mend, Transit will soon begin testing trains, The Wave, Rockaway’s local paper, reported on Friday. According to Transit officials, test trains will likely run across Broad Channel during the week of May 17th, and if all goes well, service will resume in June. As of yet, there is no set June date for restoration of the A train, but for Rockaway residents who have faced more than six months without a subway connection, it cannot come soon enough.
8 comments
Ben,
speaking of the A train maybe post this:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.1335852 this guy operated the A line joyrided 20 years ago imposted as a transit operator.
Also reminder: tonight the N/R fastrack.
I know about the Fastrack. I get the press alerts ahead of time but usually post those in the late afternoon/early evening. Don’t worry.
“The TA signal shop rebuilds these. They can’t even get them from a manufacturer anymore.”
And that is a signal system installed in 1956. There are lots of signal systems older than that, particularly on the IND.
The engineers, who would just as soon replace things faster than we can afford, say the signal systems have a 50-year life. The actual rate of replacement in recent decades is 60 years.
But because ongoing normal replacement stopped a couple of times, notably in the 1970s, many signal systems are much older. And there is an open question whether ongoing normal replacement is going to continue after 2014.
I’m guessing the Sandy projects move so fast because they are funded out of the operating budget, not capital (hence no multi-year planning efforts and extravagant contractor overhead. In fact, no contractors). So maybe having no capital program for a few years is actually a good thing – cut out the fat and see what we can still do when we use our resources efficiently.
I believe Sandy recovery is being funded by emergency federal aid.
“Capital” in this context means infrastructure and equipment, which must be periodically renewed – definitely something you can’t just stop doing, unless you want a repeat of the Bad Old Days.
A 50+ year equipment life cycle is amazing. I work with computers. These days, the computer replacement cycle guideline is every three to five years. After five years, most computer equipment and software is past end of life. It seems that switching technology would be amiable to computer technology. Would replacing signaling equipment with modern equipment make it easier and cheaper to maintain if modern technology was used? There would probably be a very big up front cost to convert.
“Would replacing signaling equipment with modern equipment make it easier and cheaper to maintain if modern technology was used?”
Yes.
“There would probably be a very big up front cost to convert.”
Extremely large. Much larger than you would expect. Second Avenue Subway large.
“The signal system in place in the Rockaways is decades old, and the MTA burned through its supply of spare parts”
Uh-oh.
It’s critically important to replace the signal systems on the Subway at this point. Some parts of the IRT signal system date to its original construction, which is really horrifying.