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Cuomo Seeks Israeli Know-How for Fix to Struggling New York Subway

Israel’s Technion, its primary engineering university, will host a meeting Friday between the governor and 25 entrepreneurs,

Cuomo Seeks Israeli Know-How for Fix to Struggling New York Subway
Commuters walk through a newly opened station on a subway line in New York, U.S. (Photographer: John Taggart/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- In an effort to find the cheapest fix for New York subways plagued by shutdowns due to century-old signaling technology, Governor Andrew Cuomo is making a one-day visit to Israel to meet with companies developing innovative navigation systems.

Israel’s Technion, its primary engineering university, will host a meeting Friday between the governor and 25 entrepreneurs, engineers and academics specializing in biomedicine, drone technology and transportation, Cuomo said at a news conference Wednesday.

Cuomo Seeks Israeli Know-How for Fix to Struggling New York Subway

“You have tremendous growth in navigational systems,” Cuomo said. “Why don’t these companies think about an application for train and rail?”

In January, Cuomo complained about perennial construction-cost overruns at the subway-operating Metropolitan Transportation Authority, decrying what he described as a “transportation-industrial complex” that discourages innovation by routinely awarding contracts to the same companies. After consulting with engineers from Cornell and Columbia universities, he proposed a way to repair a subway tunnel under the East River without a major shutdown. He has sought fresh advice on regional transportation ever since.

“We’re throwing out old ways of thinking and we’re identifying new technologies to get rehabilitation work done smarter and faster,” said MTA Managing Director Veronique Hakim, who is joining Cuomo on the trip. “It’s an important opportunity for us to open the door to new relationships at the MTA, to seek new technology on signal and navigation systems and encourage competition on MTA projects moving forward. Israel has made noteworthy advancements.”

The governor’s trip began shortly after he held a Manhattan news conference Wednesday, aides said. He’s scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday, returning to New York on Friday evening. In addition to drones, health care and transit technology, state economic development officials will try to lure businesses that work in fields such as clean energy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and information technology, the governor said.

Another reason for the trip is to express solidarity with Israel and to express outrage at a jump in antisemitic incidents across the U.S. In New York state, where more Jews live than anywhere outside Israel, there has been an 83% increase in such incidents over the past two years, Cuomo said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, William Selway, Stephen Merelman

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