2008 Woodie Awards
A and C Express
Courtney Roy
Issue date: 2/2/05 Section: News
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The fire was set about 50 feet away from the station in a shopping cart filled with wood and trash. However, the flames spread to electrical cables, causing them to short-circuit, which is what lead to the fire in the control room of the Chambers Street station. The control room, which is no larger than the size of a kitchen, houses about 600 relays, circuits, and switches, which send out important information to conductors about the location of other trains. According to The New York Times, this fire did the worst damage to MTA infrastructure since September 11, 2001. Despite the large amount of damage, MTA officials estimate that trains should be back to their usual service in the next six to nine months, an estimate drastically lowered from the initial three to five year predictions. Although service will be restored in the upcoming months, it could be years before the equipment that was destroyed-including 4 switches, 24 signals, and 90 relays-is replaced and updated.
With the C train out of service until repairs are made, and the A train only running local service, and not up to its usual capacity, the subways have become much more crowded and have slowed significantly. In order to compensate for the C train additional B trains are running on 59th through 145th street from 7:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. to 6: 45 p.m., which should relieve some of the crowding on Eighth Avenue.
The difficulty in making repairs to the control room is the fact that the MTA is using the same system that has been in use since 1904, and the parts needed are only made by two companies worldwide. These companies are based out of Pittsburgh and Paris. The MTA has been making efforts to update the system-after investing $288 million on the city's first computerized signaling system, which will be put into service this July on the L line, and provides service for Brooklyn and Manhattan. This has been a goal for several decades, but due to many financial troubles, MTA has only been able to spend profits on basic maintenance on the system.