New York subway: an emergency plan of $ 836 million

The president of the New York transport authority MTA announced on Tuesday the establishment of an emergency plan of 836 million dollars to improve the operation of the New York subway, on the brink of implosion.

“The New York subway is undoubtedly in distress,” admitted Joseph Lhota at a press conference, for whom the system “does not meet the expectations of its users.”

Some 5.6 million daily trips were made on the New York subway on average in 2016, a figure up 16% in ten years.

The continued increase in attendance is taking place on an aging network, which has long been underfunded. Symbol of this crisis, two derailments, without seriousness, took place on June 27 and July 21.

To improve the functioning of the network, the MTA intends, in the immediate future, to concentrate in particular on signaling and tracks, indicated its president.

The management will in particular speed up the repair of 1,300 faulty signals, which cause the trains to stop and many delays. About 40% of New York subway signals are over fifty years old.

The MTA also wants to increase the laying of long welded rails, that is to say without expansion joints, which should reduce the number of rail incidents.

It will also triple the emergency response staff, to reduce the response time from 45 to 15 minutes.

The plan also wants to increase the capacity of the trains, by adding wagons on lines that can (145 additional passengers per car), depending on the size of the platforms, but also by removing seats on two lines that will serve as a test ( S and L).

Once the contingency plan is completed, the MTA will put in place a long-term plan, which Lhota has estimated to cost at $ 8 billion.

The president of the MTA intends to ask the State and the city of New York to share, equally, the bill.

Under the control of the State of New York, even if it is well owned by the city, the subway is one of the files on which Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who are both Democrats, nevertheless. are waging a latent war.

Sunday, the city councilor called on the governor to take matters into his own hands and suggested that the municipality would not contribute financially to an emergency plan.

At the end of June, the governor of the State of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced a billion dollar extension to deal with the most urgent.

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