Metropolitan Transportation Authority fully integrates communications based train control on Flushing Line

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has completed a resignalling project that has helped boost on-time performance.

In May, MTA started enabling Thales’ automatic train operation (ATO) capabilities on the Flushing Line. The line has been running on Thales’ SelTrac Communications Based Train Control signaling system for over five months, and service has improved month-over-month. Full revenue service began in December 2018, with the Certificate of Substantial Completion finalized for the line in March 2019.

Since the start of revenue service, on-time performance has increased over 16 percentage points to 91 percent, up from 74.7 percent from the on-time performance the month before the signaling system was fully deployed.

The average time riders spend onboard a train beyond their scheduled travel time decreased from 1 minute 40 seconds to an average of 39 seconds. For onboard train operators, the new system allows them to put more focus on platform procedures and emergency braking while the train runs automatically.

This transportation infrastructure project was the first irreversible resignalling cutover project in North America and modernized the line’s 10.5 miles of track. The results are greater flexibility of operations across the 46 existing trains that service 22 stations, with the number of trains on the Flushing Line during peak hours now able to service an additional 2,400 to 4,800 passengers per hour.