Riders on the 42nd Street Shuttle can finally take a phone call or doom scroll on social media thanks to a new cell network installed on the line, MTA officials announced Wednesday.
The technology upgrade to the two-stop connection marks a small, early step in the MTA’s push to add 5G connectivity throughout New York City’s 418-mile network of underground subway tunnels, which are dead zones for cell service.
MTA officials plan to finish the rollout by 2032. The network will be installed through a $600 million deal with a company called Boldyn Networks, which is installing the system at no cost to the MTA. Boldyn says it’s partnered with major cell carriers like Verizon and AT&T.
“This is a major step forward in modernizing our transit system, whether it’s checking email, answering a phone call, people want to be able to do work on the mass transit system,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber said at a news conference . “And we also have to recognize there’s a lot of people who want to play Candy Crush or continue their domestic arguments, and we have to accommodate them as well.”
Jamie Torres-Springer, the MTA’s construction chief, said cell coverage will next be installed in the East River tunnel that carries the 4 and 5 lines between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Riders in the tube should be able to enjoy service by the middle of 2025. He also said the installation of cellular equipment would begin next year along five miles of the Lexington Avenue subway line between Grand Central Terminal and 161st Street in the Bronx.
“That’s something like a million daily riders that will have that connectivity,” Torres-Springer said.
MTA officials said the construction work that shut down sections of the G train this summer also allowed crews to install fiber optic cables that will be used to run a wireless network on the line, though the agency did not provide an estimate as to when the technology would go online.
The agreement to expand internet services to the subway system will also include free Wi-Fi service to all 191 aboveground subway stations and 21 Staten Island railway stations.
The Canarsie tunnel, which carries the L train between Manhattan and Brooklyn under the East River, was outfitted with internet connectivity in 2020, while the MTA was working on flood repairs from Hurricane Sandy.
Transit officials said the cell network was easier to install on the 42nd Street Shuttle because the line doesn’t operate around the clock, allowing for the work to be done overnight.