engineering

Technology of the New York City Subway

Technology of the New York City Subway is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Technology of the New York City Subway rather than just read about it. In short: Since the late 20th century, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has started several projects to maintain and improve the New York City Subway. Some of these projects, such as subway line automation, proposed platform screen doors, the FASTRACK maintenance program, and infrastructural improvements proposed in 2015–2019 Capital Program, contribute toward improving the system's efficiency.

Key takeaways

Technology of the New York City Subway belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Technology of the New York City Subway to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Technology of the New York City Subway from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Since the late 20th century, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has started several projects to maintain and improve the New York City Subway. Some of these projects, such as subway line automation, proposed platform screen doors, the FASTRACK maintenance program, and infrastructural improvements proposed in 2015–2019 Capital Program, contribute toward improving the system's efficiency. Others, such as train-arrival "countdown clocks", "Help Point" station intercoms, "On the Go! Travel Station" passenger kiosks, wireless and cellular network connections in stations, MetroCard fare payment alternatives, and digital ads, are meant to benefit individual passengers. Yet others, including the various methods of subway construction, do not directly impact the passenger interface, but are used to make subway operations efficient. In the mid-1990s, it started converting the BMT Canarsie Line to use communications-based train control, using a moving block signal system that allowed more trains to use the tracks and thus increasing passenger capacity. After the Canarsie Line tests were successful, the MTA expanded the automation program in the 2000s and 2010s to include other lines. This led to a 2017 proposal to install platform screen doors in one Canarsie Line station. Additionally, as part of another program called FASTRACK, the MTA started closing certain lines during weekday nights in 2012, with each of the lines closing overnight for a week in order to allow workers to clean these lines without being hindered by train movements. The program was expanded beyond Manhattan the next year after observing the increased efficiency of the FASTRACK program compared to previous service diversions. In 2015, the MTA announced a wide-ranging improvement program as part of the 2015–2019 Capital Program. Thirty stations would be extensively rebuilt under the Enhanced Station Initiative, and new R211 subway cars would be able to fit more passengers. The MTA has also started some projects to improve passenger amenities. It added train arrival "countdown clocks" to most A Division (numbered route) stations and the BMT Canarsie Line (L train) by late 2011, allowing passengers on these routes to see train arrival times using real-time data. A similar countdown-clock project for the B Division (lettered routes) and the IRT Flushing Line was deferred until 2016, when a new Bluetooth-based clock system was tested successfully. Beginning in 2011, the MTA installed "Help Point" to aid with emergency calls or station agent assistance, in all stations. Interactive touchscreen kiosks, which give station advisories, itineraries, and timetables, were installed starting in 2011. Cellular phone and wireless data in stations, first installed in 2011 as part of a pilot program, was expanded systemwide due to positive passenger feedback. Additionally, credit-card trials at several subway stations in 2006 and 2010 led to proposals for OMNY, a contactless payment system to replace the aging MetroCard system used to pay fares on MTA-operated transportation. Finally, in 2017, the MTA started installing digital advertisements in trains and stations.

Construction methods

When the IRT subway debuted in 1904, the typical tunnel construction method was cut-and-cover. The street was torn up to dig the tunnel below before being rebuilt from above. Traffic on the street above would be interrupted due to the digging up of the street. Temporary steel and wooden bridges carried surface traffic above the construction. The 7,700 workers who built the original subway lines were mostly immigrants living in Manhattan. Contractors in this type of construction faced many obstacles, both natural and man-made. They had to deal with rock formations, and ground water, which required pumps. 12 miles (19 km) of sewers, as well as water and gas mains, electric conduits, and New York City steam system pipes had to be rerouted. Street railways had to be torn up to allow the work. The foundations of tall buildings often ran near the subway construction, and in some cases needed underpinning to ensure stability. This method worked well for digging soft dirt and gravel near the street surface. However, tunnelling shields were required for deeper sections, such as the Harlem and East River tunnels, which used cast-iron tubes. Segments between 33rd and 42nd streets under Park Avenue, 116th Street and 120th Street under Broadway, and 145th Street and Dyckman Street (Fort George) under Broadway and Saint Nicholas Avenue as well as the tunnel from 96th Street to Central Park North–110th Street & Lenox Avenue, used either rock or concrete-lined tunnels. About 40% of the subway system runs on surface or elevated tracks, including steel or cast iron elevated structures, concrete viaducts, embankments, open cuts and surface routes. All of these construction methods are completely grade-separated from road and pedestrian crossings, and most crossings of two subway tracks are grade-separated with flying junctions. The sole level junctions of two lines in regular revenue service are the 142nd Street junction and the Myrtle Avenue junction. More recent projects use tunnel boring machines, which minimize disruption at street level and avoid already existing utilities, but increase cost. Examples of such projects include the extension of the IRT Flushing Line and the IND Second Avenue Line.

Automation and signaling

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Technology of the New York City Subway

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Technology of the New York City Subway claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Technology of the New York City Subway before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Technology of the New York City Subway ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Technology of the New York City Subway

In research: Technology of the New York City Subway appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Technology of the New York City Subway in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Technology of the New York City Subway is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Information technology projects, New York City Subway infrastructure, Rail infrastructure in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Technology of the New York City Subway outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Technology of the New York City Subway in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Technology of the New York City Subway means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Technology of the New York City Subway out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Technology of the New York City Subway in simple terms?

Why does Technology of the New York City Subway matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Technology of the New York City Subway?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Technology of the New York City Subway.