NEW YORK — Relief from communication problems for New York subway crews and riders is on the way, according to information from the Wheel Detection Forum 2019, held in Vienna, Austria.
The International Railway Journal reports New York City Transit has awarded Syntony Corp. a trial deployment contract for its SubWave underground GPS technology on the subway network. The French company’s preliminary application will cover about a half-mile of tunnel,
With almost two-thirds of its 230-mile route network underground, the subway system has been plagued by radio communication problems. Local newspaper stories have reported it can take as long as 15 minutes for help with emergency problems in tunnels, with subway crews constantly faced with dead zones, heavy static, and cross talk.
Syntony’s SubWave communication system consists of a coaxial cable run along tunnels which emits and receives radio waves, functioning as an extended antenna. The cable has gaps allowing radio signals to and from trains to extend the reach of underground GPS positioning. Currently employed for non-critical applications, the technology is expected to achieve full safety certification within two years by the International Electrotechnical Commission.
This is a separate application from Communications-Based Train Control, which is signal-based, currently used on the L train and the Flushing lines in New York City.
While the SubWave system has not been used in North America, it has been used for three years on Stockholm’s 67-mile-long Tunnelbana.
Save money on the communication “system,” just mail a post card.
My first thought was “what took so long?” Radiating coaxial cable was a mature technology when I first found out about it in 1980 (Andrew Radiax).
Sounds a little like the PRR inductive trainphone.