MTA begins Phase 1 of 42nd Street Shuttle redesign

Phase one of the MTA’s redesign of the 42nd Street Shuttle was just one of the many plans being discussed at an MTA tech and academic conference at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Friday.

The changes to the 42nd Street Shuttle will include longer trains and wheelchair access, but any rehabilitation project will mean replacing the shuttle’s tracks, many of which are over 100 years old.  

“We’re ready to make better, cheaper, faster and smarter uses of our resources by investing in the people and the ideas and the intellectual capital in this room,” said MTA Chairman Patrick Foye.

Transit officials held a series of panels with leaders in transit-related industries to solicit ideas on how to help the beleaguered agency in its drive for a smoother, more efficient future. 

The conference fell the same week that the MTA released its “5 Year Capital Plan,” a bold $51B initiative that would include 1,900 new subway cars, 2,400 buses and a massive overhaul of the troubled subway signaling system.

“We need to completely renew the signaling system in New York. So the dual challenge is to get better at what we’re doing now, to implement the existing signaling system with the existing technology, but we’ve also laid out a challenge today to the community, is there something else out there? Is there something, a new emerging technology that we can embrace?” said Andy Byford, Chief Executive of the New York City Transit Authority.