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One Last Shift On The MTA’s “Six Wire,” Where Vital Information Is Relayed Old School
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Oct 6, 2020
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Stephen Nessen / WNYC
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Oct 6, 2020
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At a nondescript building in Midtown, there’s a cavernous, windowless room with schematic maps of every single subway line, and giant screens displaying the location of trains. It’s called the Rail Control Center and it’s so essential to how the MTA runs that it’s considered a potential target for terrorists, so its location is kept secret.
In the middle of this room, three women sit side by side and monitor information broadcast through an intercom system called the “Six Wire.” It is a relic of the subway system that has survived while tokens and folded maps have all but disappeared.
The Six Wire is essentially an old analog phone line. Information from train operators, police, social media, station agents, and straphangers who use those emergency help boxes in stations, funnels through the RCC, and relevant information is then broadcast over the Six Wire by these three dispatchers.
“Our job is to disseminate that information to those that need to know to dispatch first responders or take whatever corrective actions need to solve the matter at hand,” Barry Greenblatt, the MTA’s Vice President and Chief Officer of Service Delivery, told Gothamist/WNYC during a recent visit.
“Police, we need EMS at Myrtle Avenue on the Juliette line,” one operator said, referring to the J train.
Listen to reporter Stephen Nessen's radio story for WNYC:
The origin of the Six Wire goes back to the days when the subways were run by three different companies, the IRT, BMT, and IND. When these companies merged and became the MTA in the 1950s they needed a way to communicate to each other. Thus, the Six Wire was born. It’s named for the six groups at the time that used the phone line: track workers, signals workers, car equipment workers, police, Rapid Transit Operations, and station agents.
Since then, while the number of people using and monitoring the Six Wire has grown into the hundreds—including MTA workers and the police and fire departments— it still functions much like it did at its inception.
Chit chat and jokes are still prohibited. There are only human voices over the line, and it’s essential business only, most days.
“There is something to the sound of the voice that you might say in the 21st Century ‘why are we using, essentially two cans and a string?’ But the fact that there’s a voice and a recognizable voice, we will immediately know who that person is,” Greenblatt said. “It is helpful to hear the tone of their voice. There isn’t much change, but there is a little, and sometimes that will catch your attention.”
The tools of the trade for the Six Wire.
Stephen Nessen / WNYC
One of those recognizable voices is Yvette Avvocato, 58, from Jamaica Queens. She’s worked for the MTA 34 years. She was there for 9/11, Sandy, and the 1994 fire bombing at Fulton Street. Supervisors over the Six Wire speak clearly and concisely. But they have their own particular style. For example, when someone is drinking in the subway, Avvocato always says, they’re “enjoying an alcoholic beverage.”
Avvocato began her career at the MTA as a train cleaner on the A, C trains in the East New York Pitkin Yard. She described the work as “not that bad.” Four years later she was promoted to working on the Six Wire, where she has remained since.
Wearing a colorful purple and gold dress, black face mask, and manicured nails she monitors her computer for updates on issues in the system. And when something pops up, workers behind her quickly type it into the computer, and she receives a print out on her desk, which she snatches, and then reads over the Six Wire.
“We have a male and female in the mezzanine, they’re in a heated argument, no weapons displayed,” she said calmly.
She takes a very brief break to explain that she comes from a family of MTA workers. Her father drove a bus for 40 years, and her husband, who retired four and-a-half years ago, worked in the same room she works in for 43 years. But they had different shifts. “It’s unpredictable so every day you come it’s something different,” she said, explaining why she stuck with it for so long. “And it’s just fascinating...I like trains.”
Last Thursday was her final day on the job. As for why she is retiring, Avvocato said simply, “it’s just time.” She allowed that she might do some traveling, and that she’s looking forward to spending more time with her four grandchildren.
The retirement spread for Yvette Avvocato's last shift.
Stephen Nessen / WNYC
Right as she returned to her desk after speaking to a reporter, her co-workers broke into the chatter, which was somewhat unusual for the Six Wire.
“Stations would like to commend Supervisor Level 2 Yvette Avvocato for her exemplary 34 years of service,” another supervisor read over the Six Wire. “Yvette you've been promoted to the retirement state of your life.”
She stared straight ahead, moved some papers on her desk, and slipped a straw under her mask for a sip of water. And then she pressed the talk button herself.
“Thank you everybody, it’s been a pleasure working with you,” she said calmly.
Voices from throughout the subway system suddenly came out of the speaker, one after the other, they called Avvocato a “legend”.
“Take me with you!” one worker cries. There’s some laughter, then the Six Wire operators resume their duties.
Tagged
MTA
subway
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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