陳舊的紐約地鐵信號系統 New York's subway that never stops in need of urgent overhaul

The millions of New Yorkers who pour out of crowded subway cars and into high-tech jobs in Manhattan every day would be taken aback to see inside the 4th Street signal tower. The tower — a subterranean room in Greenwich Village — is a veritable museum of ancient, electromechanical technology, some of it dating back to the 1930s and 1940s.

紐約每天有數百萬人從擁擠的地鐵車廂蜂擁而出、然後奔向曼哈頓的各個高科技崗位。如果他們看到第四街(4th Street)信號室內部的樣子，可能會大吃一驚。位於格林威治村(Greenwich Village)地下的這間信號室是一個名副其實的博物館，展示着古舊的電機技術，其中某些部分可追溯至上世紀三四十年代。

The technology still controls trains safely but it is growing harder to maintain. The system’s limitations also restrict the number of trains the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the subway system’s operator, can operate at the busiest times.

這種技術仍安全地調控着地鐵，但越來越難以維護。該系統的侷限性也限制了地鐵系統運營方紐約大都會交通署(Metropolitan Transportation Authority)在高峯期能夠運營的最大列車數量。

Two companies, Germany’s Siemens and France’s Thales, face the formidable challenge of replacing outmoded technology on key parts of the system with modern electronic systems that will cost less to maintain and increase capacity.

德國西門子(Siemens)和法國泰雷茲(Thales)這兩家公司面臨這項艱鉅的挑戰：用維護成本較低、能夠增加運力的現代電子系統，去替換地鐵原有信號系統關鍵部位的過時技術。

Yet they face the task not only of making the new communications-based train control (CBTC) system work with older technology but also of installing it on a network that operates round the clock. This all-day, all-night operation sets New York apart from other old metro systems such as London and Paris, which have made far more rapid progress in installing CBTC signalling.

然而，它們不僅面臨讓新的基於通信的列車控制(CBTC)系統與老技術兼容的任務，而且還得把它安裝在一個全天候運營的網絡中。這種24小時不間斷運營讓紐約的地鐵系統不同於倫敦和巴黎等其他較舊的地鐵系統，後者在安裝CBTC信號系統方面取得了更爲迅速的進展。

“The railroad doesn’t stop,” Kevin Riddett, head of Siemens Mobility business in the US, says. “You get very limited access.”

西門子交通(Siemens Mobility)業務美國負責人凱文•裏德特(Kevin Riddett)表示：“地鐵系統不會停下來，我們的安裝操作非常受侷限。”

One problem is the lack of clear records about what was installed in the first place. The work is also going to move quickly beyond the two discrete lines where installation has been tried first — the Canarsie line, which carries the L train from Manhattan to outer Brooklyn, and the Flushing line that carries the 7 train through Queens. The system started operating on the Canarsie line in 2007 and is due to go into operation on the 7 train next year.

一個問題在於缺乏原本安裝了什麼的清晰記錄。工程還將迅速擴展至首次試安裝CBTC系統的兩條互不相連的線路以外。這兩條線路一條是從曼哈頓至遠郊布魯克林的運營L號線的卡納西線(Canarsie line)，另一條是從曼哈頓到皇后區運營7號線的法拉盛線(Flushing line)。該系統從2007年開始在卡納西線運營，並計劃從明年起在7號線上運營。

Siemens and Thales were last year both awarded contracts to start installing CBTC on the Queens Boulevard Line. Like much of the New York subway, the four-track line is used by multiple different services. All the trains operating on the route will need technology to communicate with the new signals.

西門子和泰雷茲(Thales)去年全都獲得了在IND皇后大道線(Queens Boulevard Line)開始安裝CBTC系統的合同。與紐約地鐵許多線路一樣，這條四軌線路供多個不同的服務使用。所有在該線上運營的列車都將需要技術裝備來與新的信號系統通訊。

The award of the contracts for work on Queens Boulevard was a sign of the MTA’s determination to make improvements across the network, Thomas Prendergast, the MTA’s chairman, said in July when awarding the work.

MTA主席托馬斯•普倫德加斯特(Thomas Prendergast)在去年7月授予這些合同時表示，授予這些在IND皇后大道線上作業的合同，表明MTA決心升級改造整個網絡。

Installation of CBTC has allowed a substantial increase in L train services.

CBTC系統的安裝使得L線列車出勤大幅增加。

“CBTC represents the MTA’s efforts to bring advanced technology to a century-old subway system that, in some parts, has not been updated in decades,” Mr Prendergast said.

普倫德加斯特表示：“CBTC代表着MTA向一個擁有百年曆史的地鐵系統引入先進技術的努力，這個地鐵系統的某些部分已有幾十年沒有升級改造過。”

However, Mr Riddett also points out that CBTC installation on the Canarsie line took a painful seven years as the company struggled to adapt microprocessor-based technology for the first time to the subway. He is hopeful the Queens Boulevard work will be far faster and that the MTA should start working faster on installation elsewhere.

然而，裏德特也指出，在卡納西線上安裝CBTC系統耗費了7年時間、過程艱辛，因爲該公司很難將基於微處理器的技術首次運用於地鐵上。他預計IND皇后大道線的工程進展將會快得多，而且MTA應該會更快開始在其他線路上安裝這一系統。

“All of the technology is proven out for Queens Boulevard,” he says.

他說：“在IND皇后大道線上安裝的時候，這項技術已全部經過了檢驗。”