IBM to manage NY subway system

SAN FRANCISCO: IBM said that it will manage computer systems and offer disaster recovery services for New York City's vast metropolitan transportation system in a five-year, $65 million deal.

The agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the nation's biggest transport system, calls for IBM to manage computer processing for subways and buses, commuter rail and bus lines and New York's bridges and tunnels.

The IBM contract replaces a previous contract the MTA had with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS), an IBM spokesman said. An MTA spokesman was not available to comment.

The MTA is made up of the New York City Transit Authority, which runs subways and buses; MTA Bridges and Tunnels; Long Island Rail Road; Metro North Railroad, and the Long Island Bus system.

New York city's subways, buses, and railroads provide 2.4 billion rides per year for New Yorkers, representing about one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders, IBM said.

IBM's computer processing system will be located in a borough of New York City outside of Manhattan, IBM spokesman John Buscemi said.

The IBM system will also be used to track vehicle parts, schedule crews, manage purchasing and other tasks. IBM said it expects to lower the MTA's overall computing costs over the life of the deal.