Robots do everything these days, from pouring your beer to being your sex buddy to running for president. And now, even more of them will be driving trains, thanks to the expansion of the MTA's computer-based train control program.
The city's slow, steady march towards Blade Runnerdom kicked off a few years ago, when the MTA started outfitting L trains with "Communications Based Train Control" [CBTC] systems that put computers in charge of running the cars, with a few cute little humans onboard just for show. Now, the MTA says they'll be installing the CBTC system on the 7, too, which will bring more reliable service (and countdown clocks!) to the line.
They've already started testing new trains on the system, and the $385 million program, which was begun during last year's spate of 7 Train Hell, is expected to be completed in 2016, giving us just a little more time until we are enslaved by our Robot Overlords and forced to spend eternity trapped underground, chanting: "We are being held because of train traffic ahead of us...We are being held because of train traffic ahead of us."
