Skip to main content

Thales to upgrade New York’s Queens Boulevard subway line

In a contract worth US$49.6 million from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Thales is to upgrade the New York subway’s busy Queens Boulevard Line with its signalling solution. The contract includes the deployment of the Thales’s communications-based train control system, SelTrac CBTC, as well as the supply of equipment for the line’s train fleet. Design work for the Queens Boulevard Line is getting underway and installations are expected to begin in mid-2017.
October 1, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
In a contract worth US$49.6 million from the New York 1267 Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), 596 Thales is to upgrade the New York subway’s busy Queens Boulevard Line with its signalling solution.

The contract includes the deployment of the Thales’s communications-based train control system, SelTrac CBTC, as well as the supply of equipment for the line’s train fleet. Design work for the Queens Boulevard Line is getting underway and installations are expected to begin in mid-2017.

The contract is one of two that will allow New York City Transit to operate more trains per hour on this line, thereby increasing passenger capacity, and provide improved and more reliable services.  When complete, this multi-year contract will enable the line to use a CBTC system on multiple routes. The other contract was awarded to 189 Siemens.

MTA sees the line as being the first interoperable line in the world, which will allow Thales’ equipment to work seamlessly with other CBTC suppliers’ equipment.

SelTrac CBTC continuously updates train positions, distances and travel speeds, allowing for faster and more efficient operations. Continuous updates allow the subway system to recover quickly from delays and restore consistent wait times at subway stations for passengers.

The installation of SelTrac CBTC will maintain the signalling system in a state of good repair and will also enhance safety for passengers and employees alike. With CBTC, NYC Transit can program a work zone so trains cannot exceed a set speed, making the work zone much safer for workers on the tracks.

Related Content

  • July 31, 2012
    Dubai metro - the world's longest automated rail system
    David Crawford reviews the recent opening of Dubai's Red Line. The US$7.6bn Dubai Metro, the Phase I Red Line of which started partial operation in September 2009, will be the world's longest driverless rail system on its planned completion in 2011. With a total length of some 75km, it will then overtake the 68.7km Vancouver SkyTrain and be able to carry over 1.2 million passengers on a typical day.
  • June 20, 2016
    Thales builds on Canadian connection for transit R&D
    The Canadian province of Ontario is continuing to benefit from its ongoing investment in transit R&D. David Crawford looks at the impact of new investment. Developing the next generation of urban rail signalling solutions worldwide, with the emphasis on transit security and efficiency, is the goal of a recently-created business partnership between the government of the Canadian province of Ontario and Thales Canada. The wholly-owned subsidiary of the France-HQ'd global defence, aerospace and transportation
  • April 17, 2012
    Thales delivers ATO system for the Mecca metro
    Thales has opened the last phase of Mecca’s new 18.5 km metro line on schedule and in time for the Hajj pilgrimage, the world’s largest religious gathering. The line transports pilgrims between holy sites, reducing travel time between Arafat and Muzdalifah from five hours to just ten minutes.
  • August 7, 2019
    Veovo to ease subway crowding in New York
    Veovo is working with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to help ease crowded subways in New York as part of a one-year pilot. It follows an agreement made last year between the MTA and Partnership for New York City to launch the Transit Tech Lab to vet technologies designed to modernise the city’s public transit system. Natalia Quintero, director of the Transit Tech Lab, says: “With Veovo's sensors and analytics, the MTA has more reliable data to inform service changes and improve safe