The New York Times recently featured a front page article on New York’s subway system. It needs to be updated in the worst way, especially the signal system that directs the subway traffic. (All information is taken from The New York Times article “6 Million Riders a Day, 1930s Technology; New York’s Straining Subway Struggles to Modernize Signals” by Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Monday, May 1, 2017, pp. A1, A19).
Other parts of the subway system also need to be replaced, such as worn out track, and possibly additional tunnels under the Hudson River to alleviate the traffic, but the main topic here is the signal system.
The New York subway is the largest in the world, as well as one of the busiest. It has 22 lines and 472 stations. It transports six million people per day, five days a week. Weekends are lighter.
Signals are used to direct traffic, controlling when trains can move down the track, where they are located, and how far apart one train is from another on the same line, thus, controlling the time between the trains and how long passengers will have to wait from one train to the next.
The problem here is the subway system still uses signals installed in the 1930s, technology that has been obsolete for decades. It is unreliable, meaning that exact locations of trains cannot be pinpointed, “requiring more room between them. When this fails, trains stop, delays pile up, and riders fume” (taken out of context).
A more modern, computerized signal network is needed, where trains are not only pinpointed at all times, but could run closer together, allowing more trains on the line, thereby accommodating more riders, alleviating crowds and delays. This could even accommodate a growing population, the subway system growing along with it. London is at present modernizing its system. New York has upgraded one line, the L Train, and that took a decade to complete. The No. 7 Line is presently being upgraded, and so far, it has taken seven years, and it isn’t yet completed. The Queens Boulevard Line is due to be upgraded next.
The transportation authority, has requested $3.2 billion for signal and communication work its latest five year proposal, 10 percent of its $32 billion budget request. About $400 million was cut from the plan last year (2016).
In other words, there are budget requests from the state government to fix the subway system, one line at a time, and as the cost increases, the government grants decrease, simply because the State of New York cannot afford to give the full grants. At this rate, it is estimated that it will take 50 years and $20 billion, in 2017 dollars, to modernize and upgrade the entire system. Meanwhile, trains are delayed, commuters get restless, less trains become available to accommodate everyone and so many will have to find alternative transportation.
With the state and U.S. economy the way it is, we may never find the money to fix the New York subway system, and that not only includes a new signal system, but new track to replace old, new tunnels under the Hudson River (this has been proposed, but governor Chris Christie of New Jersey rejected it, for personal, political reasons), and new and more efficient, all of which will have to come sooner or later.
Who is going to pay for all this?
Both the state and federal governments can no longer afford to pay for all this, lock, stock, and barrel, for the nation’s entire infrastructure needs to be upgraded, and no government, city, state, or federal, can afford to pay for all this alone. There are too many other demands from their budgets that are equally important. Our nation’s survival still depends on all this being modernized.
Again, I am appealing to the immensely wealthy, but those who reside in New York City. There is the Trump family, though the father is President, and by law, cannot conduct any private business as long as he is in office, but the rest of the family can. There many other wealthy families in New York. There is also Wall Street, with who knows how many million and billionaires?!
They have the means to pay for upgrading the subway system, along with the rest of the infrastructure: bridges, tunnels, railroads, tracks, all of it.
Let’s concentrate on the $20 billion price tag to upgrade the subway signal system. How many wealthy people are there in New York? How much money do they have total, including the offshore accounts? Is it possible that all of them could get together and pool their resources to upgrade the subways?
Depending on how much they have, each could contribute a fair amount totaling $20 billion. This would be money none of them would ever miss. Each person here could pledge a certain amount out of their surplus savings, totaling up to a small amount from each person, and then go to the department of transportation to commence on this major project. It would take five to ten years to upgrade the system, inconveniencing the passengers who use this system (they would have to take alternative routes), but in the end it would be worth it.
As for the wealthy contributing to “New York’s Infrastructure Fund,” they would be giving back to the community. If the City of New York provides for them in the form of services and protection, they would want to have all their services top quality, even if they do not use them.
They would give enough money to help but not too much as to affect their accounts (break the bank). They would never miss the money they would donate, they could live their lifestyles as they choose, and still help the city and people of New York. They would also benefit in gratitude from the city, and possibly facilitate their own lives by using these services. This could be an investment for them, by having these improvements benefit their clients, as themselves.
There is immense wealth in the U.S. lying in banks, both on and off shore, doing nothing. Wealth needs to be a tool for this city, society, and country as a whole. Let’s use it as such.
Alastair Browne
