NEW YORK (PIX11) -- The signal system keeps the subways running, but it's old and complicated, contributing to many delays.
The light you see from the platform is part of the signal system that keeps the trains properly spaced on the tracks and prevents crashes.
Inside NYC Transit Signal School, crews are trained on the system. It's located underground in a station complex under 14th Street in Manhattan.
Signal crews are in training for about five months in the classroom and in the field.
Signal maintainers learn how the mechanism works, how it operates, and what can go wrong. Most of the signal technology is about a century old, and some of the parts are 60 to 70 years old.
NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow started with the MTA 28 years ago as a signal man.
He celebrated his anniversary with a visit to the training center on Wednesday.
He spoke with class members and discussed the challenges of the system.
"It's never just the bulb in the field. It's a complicated system of old relays and track wires that tie into them. They don't know what's causing a failure. We have different crafts to identify the problem and get the right tools there," he said.
NYC Transit stages response teams in busy areas or places with complex operations.
In 2009, signal technology was introduced along the L line. Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) is also installed currently along the 7 line. The upgrades allow more trains to run.
Maintainers and signal crews are trained in the old and new systems.
Projects to install the new signals along the Culver Line in Brooklyn and along the Queens Boulevard line have been funded.
More than $5 billion of the next $68 billion capital improvement plan would be spent on new, upgraded signal technology.
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