News & Events
First Group of Transit Authority Workers Complete New Training Program in Telecommunications Technology at City Tech
From left, City Tech President Fred W. Beaufait, TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint, TA Vice President for Human Resources Kevin Hyland and Business & Training Center Director Yelena Melikian.
Students in the new City Tech/TA/TWU Local 100 workforce development program in telecommunications technology at opening ceremony this summer.
More than a year in the planning and the first collaborative effort of its kind, a new workforce development program for city transit workers at City Tech saw the first group of students complete the 75-hour training course last month. The course, "Telecommunications Technology in Transportation - T³," provided participants with a comprehensive overview of the theories and applications of telecommunications and supportive technologies to New York City's modern transit system.
"These are exciting times both in transit and in the Information Age," said New York City Transit Authority (TA) Vice President for Human Resources Kevin Hyland at the program's opening ceremonies in late July. "The knowledge and know-how gained through this first-of-its-kind training program will enable transit employees to better provide New York City's seven million daily transit customers with the information they want and need."
Twenty-two students - all TA employees and members
of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 - who had successfully
met the program's entrance requirements were selected from current
TA apprenticeship programs to be the first cohort in this pilot
course. A second group of students will begin the training soon.
"This telecommunications technology training program will position
you and other participating New York City transit workers ahead
of the technology curve in relation to other transportation system
workers worldwide," TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint
told the first group of students.
Delivered over a 15-day period, the course includes instruction in electricity and electronics, communication principles, fiber optics, wireless and networking systems. Specific applications such as Global Position Systems (GPS), Communication-based Train Control (CBTC) and Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) are also covered. In addition to classroom instruction provided by members of City Tech's electrical engineering/telecommunications technology department faculty, participants engage in hands-on lab work and demonstrations, as well as site visits to various TA facilities. Field trips and panel discussions by TA/TWU technology experts help participants connect the theories learned to current and future technology applications across the city's transit system. The course was designed and developed by a curriculum committee made up of representatives of TA, TWU and the College.
"This training program is another example of what has long been a hallmark of this college - its creative partnerships with business and industry, unions, public agencies and other concerns that have helped build a better New York," added City Tech President Fred W. Beaufait. "The College is pleased to be an integral part of efforts that make this great city work."
Funding for this industry-specific training program was made possible by a U.S. Department of Labor grant to the Planning Access to Careers in Telecommunications through Training (PACTT) consortium of New York City College of Technology, LaGuardia Community College and the Brooklyn Workforce Initiative. At City Tech, the TA/TWU partnership program was developed and is coordinated by the Business & Industry Training Center, a department of the College's Division of Continuing Education and one of The City University of New York's leading workforce development operations.
