陈旧的纽约地铁信号系统 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.

纽约每天有数百万人从拥挤的地铁车厢蜂拥而出、然后奔向曼哈顿的各个高科技岗位。如果他们看到第四街(4th Street)信号室内部的样子，可能会大吃一惊。位于格林威治村(Greenwich Village)地下的这间信号室是一个名副其实的博物馆，展示着古旧的电机技术，其中某些部分可追溯至上世纪三四十年代。

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.

这种技术仍安全地调控着地铁，但越来越难以维护。该系统的局限性也限制了地铁系统运营方纽约大都会交通署(Metropolitan Transportation Authority)在高峰期能够运营的最大列车数量。

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.

德国西门子(Siemens)和法国泰雷兹(Thales)这两家公司面临这项艰巨的挑战：用维护成本较低、能够增加运力的现代电子系统，去替换地铁原有信号系统关键部位的过时技术。

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，它们不仅面临让新的基于通信的列车控制(CBTC)系统与老技术兼容的任务，而且还得把它安装在一个全天候运营的网络中。这种24小时不间断运营让纽约的地铁系统不同于伦敦和巴黎等其他较旧的地铁系统，后者在安装CBTC信号系统方面取得了更为迅速的进展。

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

西门子交通(Siemens Mobility)业务美国负责人凯文•里德特(Kevin Riddett)表示：“地铁系统不会停下来，我们的安装操作非常受局限。”

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.

一个问题在于缺乏原本安装了什么的清晰记录。工程还将迅速扩展至首次试安装CBTC系统的两条互不相连的线路以外。这两条线路一条是从曼哈顿至远郊布鲁克林的运营L号线的卡纳西线(Canarsie line)，另一条是从曼哈顿到皇后区运营7号线的法拉盛线(Flushing line)。该系统从2007年开始在卡纳西线运营，并计划从明年起在7号线上运营。

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.

西门子和泰雷兹(Thales)去年全都获得了在IND皇后大道线(Queens Boulevard Line)开始安装CBTC系统的合同。与纽约地铁许多线路一样，这条四轨线路供多个不同的服务使用。所有在该线上运营的列车都将需要技术装备来与新的信号系统通讯。

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主席托马斯•普伦德加斯特(Thomas Prendergast)在去年7月授予这些合同时表示，授予这些在IND皇后大道线上作业的合同，表明MTA决心升级改造整个网络。

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

CBTC系统的安装使得L线列车出勤大幅增加。

“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.

普伦德加斯特表示：“CBTC代表着MTA向一个拥有百年历史的地铁系统引入先进技术的努力，这个地铁系统的某些部分已有几十年没有升级改造过。”

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，里德特也指出，在卡纳西线上安装CBTC系统耗费了7年时间、过程艰辛，因为该公司很难将基于微处理器的技术首次运用于地铁上。他预计IND皇后大道线的工程进展将会快得多，而且MTA应该会更快开始在其他线路上安装这一系统。

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

他说：“在IND皇后大道线上安装的时候，这项技术已全部经过了检验。”