MTA Starts $1.9B Signal Overhaul on A and C Lines

The signals that direct A and C trains through Brooklyn and Queens are nearly a century old. The MTA announced Thursday that it has begun replacing them, in a $1.9 billion project that the agency’s chair and CEO says is the largest of its kind in its history.

The work will install modern Communications Based Train Control, known as CBTC, along the A and C lines’ Fulton Street and Liberty Avenue corridors. It will cover 42 miles of track and 23 stations that together serve 350,000 riders each weekday, according to the agency. Contracts for the project were approved by the MTA board nearly a year ago.

The money comes from congestion pricing. The resignaling and track replacement are effectively funded in their entirety by revenue from the state’s program, which charges drivers a base toll of $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.

The difference between old and new comes down to precision. Analog signal systems show where trains are on specific sections of track. CBTC lets dispatchers see each train’s exact location and speed, which allows the MTA to run trains safely closer together and, in turn, offer more frequent service.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement that signal problems are the “number one cause of subway delays.” “No surprise considering the ancient relics we’ve been using to direct train traffic,” he said. “Thanks to this almost $2 billion project, we are going to be able to run more A and C trains faster, safer, and more reliably than ever before.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul tied the project directly to the toll. “Congestion pricing keeps delivering wins for New Yorkers,” she said in a statement, adding that upgrading the old signals is “a critical part of our plan to run better and more frequent subway service, shortening waits and slashing delays.” When the project is finished, she said, hundreds of thousands of A and C riders will benefit from “the world-class service on new, modern trains that New Yorkers deserve.”

The MTA points to earlier installations as evidence. Modern signals already operate on the entire 7 and L lines and on parts of the Queens Boulevard and Culver lines used by the E, F, M and R trains. On the 7, on-time performance rose from 68 percent to 91 percent after CBTC went in, according to the agency. On the E line in Queens, train speeds rose 10 percent once the new signals were activated.

The first phase of construction is modest in scale. The MTA will replace aging switches and 250 feet of track between the 104 St and 99 St stations in Queens. The announcement did not specify a completion date or detail how service might be affected during the work.

For riders on the A and C, the project promises something the lines’ famously long waits have rarely delivered: a signal system built to move trains more frequently rather than merely keep them apart.