NYMTA awards L.K. Comstock QBL signaling contract Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman , Editor, Railway Track & Structures; and Engineering Editor, Railway Age









The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has awarded a $223.3 million contract to L.K. Comstock & Company Inc. to upgrade the New York City Transit Queens Boulevard Line (QBL) signaling system and install communications-based train control (CBTC).

The line is one of MTA’s busiest; by modernizing the existing signaling system and installing CBTC, MTA can run trains closer together, gain capacity and reduce crowding.

CBTC is operational on the Canarsie Line and Flushing Line, both of which L.K. Comstock installed, and is part of MTA’s five-year capital plan. Thales Transport & Security and Siemens Rail Automation are supplying interoperable CBTC technology. The CBTC system is MTA’s QBL West Phase 1 project.

“The communications-based train control signaling system is a vital part of our plan to address issues of overcrowding, record ridership and service delays,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast. “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.”

Work on the project begins in January 2017 and extends 55 months with a targeted completion date in the fall of 2021. L.K. Comstock will perform all of the signal systems upgrades, CBTC installation and new systems work. RailWorks Transit will serve as a subcontractor to perform related track and civil work. Both companies are subsidiaries of RailWorks Corporation.

L.K. Comstock is responsible for installing new signal, communications, fiber-optic and CBTC systems, as well as track on the mostly four-track system starting in Jamaica, Queens, and extending under Queens Boulevard to 8th Avenue and 50th Street on the West Side of Manhattan. Additional project work consists of building new signal control rooms, modifying existing facilities and upgrading systems to ensure connectivity with the CBTC system. The project also includes constructing and extending fiber backbone support to perform health and system tests on the CBTC-equipped rail rolling stock in all the ancillary yards and facilities that support the Queens Boulevard Line.