Sign Modernization Upgrades Manhattan Commute

It’s Monday morning, and you’re running late for your early train to the city. You break a sweat sprinting for the platform, but you look up and relax. A large overhead electronic sign tells you you’ve made it with a few minutes to spare.

For Metro-North commuters, new signage providing critical real-time information is helping to ease the stress of travel, and it’s thanks to the hard work of IBEW electricians from New York-area railroad locals.

New York Local 859 member Bill McVinua inspects a newly placed overhead message sign at Metro-North’s Mamaroneck Station.

“The [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] used to have these hard-wired signs that didn’t provide a lot of information,” said New York Local 859 President and Business Manager John Gallagher. “Oftentimes, it was only the date or that trains were in good service.”

Through the first half of 2019, Local 859 members — along with members of New York Local 817 and New Haven, Conn., Local 747 — removed the outdated variable message signs at dozens of stations serving the various Metro-North lines.

The new, modernized signs use bright gold LEDs to display a wealth of useful information, such as the scheduled and actual arrival times of the station’s next three trains, plus those trains’ destinations and designated arrival track. The signs receive their display data wirelessly, thanks to hardware also expertly installed by IBEW members.

“They might not have a formal Code of Excellence agreement in place, but you can see how the Code’s values have an influence on how our members get the job done for the MTA,” said Railroad Department Director William Bohné. “Their work is helping tens of thousands of transit riders get into Manhattan safely and efficiently every day of the week.”