Project Manager Difficulties Experienced by the New York Subway
Haebom
1
Most of Korea's special cities and metropolitan cities have infrastructure such as subways or light rail. When we go to ride or wait for these trains, we often look at the train status board to check which trains are coming and when. However, in the subways of New York City in the United States or famous cities in Western Europe, there are often cases where these types of electronic displays are not available. No, there are many. Why is that?
1.
Complexity of the signal system: The signal system of the New York subway is very old and complex. It does not have the technical capability to determine or report the exact location of each train in real time. For reference, the New York subway has been in operation since 1904. This year marks its 119th year.
2.
Difficulty in Upgrading: Upgrading the signal system to modernize it and to the technology that can accurately track the position of trains is a complex, expensive, and time-consuming process. In 1968, New York State set out a plan to unify and improve the signal system on all of its major train lines. But it never got done.
3.
Lack of funding and resources: These upgrades require billions of dollars of investment and massive resources, but the New York subway system has struggled to secure enough funding and resources to do so. Below is the best system that was built at the time.
4.
Policy and Priority Issues: There is a lack of clarity among policy makers about priorities for improving the subway system, and various projects are being carried out in duplicate, resulting in a lack of consistent direction for improvement.
a.
There are too many stakeholders. Railway companies, local governments, construction companies, citizens, etc. The subway is already a daily routine → It is difficult to stop operation.
b.
Recently, as technology advances, alternatives are beginning to appear, but many are concerned about whether these can be resolved due to relationship complexity.
5.
Technological limitations: The current New York subway system relies on old technology, and there are significant technical challenges to modernizing it. For example, introducing a new system (e.g. CBTC) to replace the existing signal system is technically complex and requires a lot of time and resources.
6.
Aging infrastructure: The New York City subway’s infrastructure, especially the signaling system, is very old, and the work required to modernize it is extensive and complex. Currently, both the MTA and ATS, the subway companies in the United States, are making various efforts to introduce CBTC.
Conclusion
The lack of a countdown clock in the New York subway is not simply a technical problem, but rather a combination of financial, policy, and infrastructure challenges. Naturally, solving these problems will require significant time, money, and policy commitment.
If we assume this is software development, how can we solve this legacy, customer convenience, and some maintenance and improvement of existing functions? It may not seem to be related to IT, but it is an interesting problem to think about from a project management perspective.
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