A, C, E Trains To Get $246M Signal Upgrade, MTA Says

MANHATTAN, NYC — The west side's A, C and E lines will be the next to get a new high-tech system that officials say will help stop signal problems that have plagued commutes citywide.

The $245.8-million project will install a modern computer-based signaling system and other upgrades to the A, C and E line, which runs through some of Manhattan's busiest stations and connects its west side to Brooklyn.

The project is part of a $7 billion push to bring the new technology to half a dozen stretches of subway tracks over the next five years. It has already been installed on the L line and Queens' 7 trains.

Officials say the new systems will make it so more trains can run and improve signal problems on the city's subways, which a new study found delayed four out of five commutes last year.

“A modern signaling system will help transform commutes for our millions of customers and bring our transit system into the 21st century by providing modern, reliable, safe service that can carry more riders than ever,” MTA President Andy Byford said. “This progress in our Eighth Avenue line resignaling project is a major milestone and a sign of what’s coming as we push forward to modernize the system as quickly as possible.”

The A, C and E trains serve more than 700,000 riders each weekday and include some of the busiest stations in the city's subway system, like Columbus Circle, Times Square and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, Penn Station and West 4th Street.

The MTA did not give details about how trains on the subway lines will be messed up as they put in the new system, but they said construction crews will "bundle" work so that there is minimal disruption. The construction will likely start by the end of the year, officials said.

The new technology, called Communications-Based Train Control, will be put in on the local and express tracks from 59th Street Columbus Circle to High Street in Brooklyn and eventually connect with the signal project in Queens so that the entire E line will use the new technology, officials said.

Transit officials pointed to the Queens line and the L train as examples of the new technology's success, touting a 92 percent and 95 percent on-time performance fo reach line, respectively. The ACE line is only on time 73.5 percent of the time, officials said.

At least on the 7 line, though, the new system hasn't completely eliminated signal problems, including the time a bug in the system caused 72 train delays after a light dusting of snow just a month after it was put in.