The article says the union did exactly what I said the union can do: prevent the MTA from cutting jobs. That does not prevent the MTA from modernizing the sig

The article says the union did exactly what I said the union can do: prevent the MTA from cutting jobs. That does not prevent the MTA from modernizing the signal system -- the entire context of the dispute over the L line was the MTA's effort to reduce trains to a one-man crew, from the current two-man crew, after a modern signal system was installed and operational. The MTA is busy installing that same modern system on two lines in Queens. The TWU is not a massive force in transit projects. At worst, they block cost-cutting measures that modern technology can enable through automation. CBTC has benefits beyond automated trains -- it allows trains to run closer together and it allows more flexible usage of the tracks (the current block system does not allow track directions to change as needed, for example). Like I said, the reason this was not deployed in the 90s is that the MTA wasted 15 years trying to build a single tower to control the entire system; things are proceeding now because the MTA went back to its previous approach of consolidation. The TWU had nothing to do with it and continues to have nothing to do with it.