Stepping into tomorrow
Quote of note:
Automated trains are by no means new. In San Francisco, Bay Area Rapid Transit trains have been completely automated since the 1970's. And New York City had a fully automated train between Grand Central and Times Square for two years in the early 1960's. More recently, driverless, computer-controlled train lines have emerged in Paris, London, Vancouver, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and elsewhere. The New York City subway, however, continues to depend on the same antiquated system of signal lights, caution flags and speed limits.
"We are seriously behind," Mr. Ghaly said.
Next Stop for the Subway, a Fully Automated Future
By MICHAEL LUO
The subway of the future was rumbling back and forth on the Canarsie line in Brooklyn the other day. Not sleek or silent, it seemed no different from any other train. But its innards set it apart, making it groundbreaking for a transit agency long dogged by a Luddite image.
After several years of installation work and testing, New York City Transit is finally close to unveiling its first computer-controlled train line. A rollout of the $287 million system will begin in October and continue through next spring on an overhauled L line. At first, train operators will remain in control, but when the computer-based system becomes fully operational, probably sometime in May, trains will essentially drive themselves from station to station in fully automatic mode.
The spacing of trains, their speeds and when they start and stop will be entirely controlled by a complicated system of onboard and remote computers that communicate with each other via radio signals. Operators will continue to ride in the front cab in case of emergency, but their only job will be to push a button in front of them periodically to alert the rail control center that they are paying attention.
And if all goes according to plan, in a few decades hence, all New York City subway trains will run in the same way, without human help.
"This is a revolution," said Nabil N. Ghaly, chief signal engineer for the transit authority.
Although the system's benefits mainly center on being able to run more trains at higher speeds, the most important advancement will be in safety, supporters said.
"The whole idea is to eliminate human error," said Joe Bauer, a train operator instructor who has been helping test the new system.
More than a decade ago, a subway train with a drunken motorman aboard barreled through a railroad switch in Union Square and derailed, killing five people and pushing transit officials to begin exploring options for automating their aging system.
