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挤迫的地铁车厢四散而出有、然后奔向曼哈顿的各个高科技岗位。如果他们看见第四街(4th Street)信号室内部的样子，可能会大吃一惊。坐落于格林威治村(Greenwich Village)地下的这间信号室是一个名副其实的博物馆，展出着旧的电机技术，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. 这种技术仍安全性地调控着地铁，但更加无法确保。该系统的局限性也容许了地铁系统运营方纽约大都会交通署(Metropolitan Transportation Authority)在高峰期需要运营的仅次于列车数量。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)这两家公司面对这项艰难的挑战：用确保成本较低、需要减少运力的现代电子系统，去更换地铁原先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，它们不仅面对让新的基于通信的列车掌控(CBTC)系统与老技术相容的任务，而且还得把它加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，后者在加装CBTC信号系统方面获得了更加很快的进展。“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兹(Kevin Riddett)回应：“地铁系统会停下，我们的安装操作十分不受局限。” 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. 一个问题在于缺少原本加装了什么的明晰记录。

工程还将很快拓展至首次中举加装CBTC系统的两条彼此之间连接的线路以外。这两条线路一条就是指曼哈顿至远郊布鲁克林的运营L号线的卡纳西线(Canarsie line)，另一条就是指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)去年全都取得了在IND皇后大道线(Queens Boulevard Line)开始加装CBTC系统的合约。与纽约地铁许多线路一样，这条四轨线路可供多个有所不同的服务用于。

所有在该线上运营的列车都将必须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主席托马斯弗伦德加斯特(Thomas Prendergast)在去年7月颁发这些合约时回应，颁发这些在IND皇后大道线上作业的合约，指出MTA决意升级改建整个网络。Installation of CBTC has allowed a substantial increase in L train services. CBTC系统的加装使得L线列车值勤大幅度减少。

“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. 弗伦德加斯特回应：“CBTC代表着MTA向一个享有百年历史的地铁系统引进先进设备技术的希望，这个地铁系统的某些部分有数几十年没升级改建过。” 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，里德特也认为，在卡纳西线上加装CBTC系统花费了7年时间、过程艰难，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不会更快，而且MTA应当不会更慢开始在其他线路上加装这一系统。

“All of the technology is proven out for Queens Boulevard,” he says. 他说道：“在IND皇后大道线上加装的时候，这项技术已全部经过了检验。

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