Empire City Subway

Last updated

Empire City Subway Company, Ltd.
Type Subsidiary
Industry Telecommunications
Founded1891;132 years ago (1891)
Headquarters
140 West Street, New York, NY 10007
,
United States
Area served
New York City, New York
ProductsUnderground conduits
Parent Verizon New York
Website empirecitysubway.com

Empire City Subway is an American company in New York City which is responsible for maintaining underground conduits in Manhattan and The Bronx, and the manholes by which those conduits are accessed.

Contents

ECS truck in East Harlem Empire City Subway truck Pleasant Av jeh.jpg
ECS truck in East Harlem

History and operations

The company was formed in 1891 as part of a plan for common utility ducts to consolidate all utilities underground. [1] Incompatibility among the utilities limited the range of utilities that could share their ducts, so the company now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon New York Telephone under a franchise from the city. In addition to Verizon, the company provides service to cable television and other telecommunications companies.

Business model

Empire City Subway makes its money by renting manhole space and conduits to New York City Office of Technology and Innovation telecommunications franchisees. Although wholly owned by Verizon, Verizon is their largest tenant in the Empire City Subway system.

They have construction crews on staff that perform excavation for conduit and points of entry (POEs) for their tenants and well as rodding and roping services so tenants may pull new cable through the ducts.

Tenants that choose to pull their own cables through the system are overseen by the Manhole Activity Program (MAP) Group. There is a fee charged per hour to the tenants for this service.

Manholes

Manholes owned by Empire City Subway can be recognized by the abbreviation ECS (or ECS Co. Ltd) cast into the metal covers. This should not be confused with CT & ES (Consolidated Telegraph & Electrical Subway), now owned by the Electrical utility, Consolidated Edison of New York.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outside plant</span>

In telecommunication, the term outside plant has the following meanings:

Subterranean London refers to a number of subterranean structures that lie beneath London. The city has been occupied by humans for two millennia. Over time, the capital has acquired a vast number of these structures and spaces, often as a result of war and conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manhole cover</span> Removable plate atop an opening large enough for a person to pass through

A manhole cover or maintenance hole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening of a manhole, an opening large enough for a person to pass through that is used as an access point for an underground vault or pipe. It is designed to prevent anyone or anything from falling in, and to keep out unauthorized persons and material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consolidated Edison</span> American energy company

Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 billion in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through its subsidiaries:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power cable</span> Bundle of wires for transmitting electricity

A power cable is an electrical cable, an assembly of one or more electrical conductors, usually held together with an overall sheath. The assembly is used for transmission of electrical power. Power cables may be installed as permanent wiring within buildings, buried in the ground, run overhead, or exposed. Power cables that are bundled inside thermoplastic sheathing and that are intended to be run inside a building are known as NM-B.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utility tunnel</span> Passage carrying utility lines

A utility tunnel, utility corridor, or utilidor is a passage built underground or above ground to carry utility lines such as electricity, steam, water supply pipes, and sewer pipes. Communications utilities like fiber optics, cable television, and telephone cables are also sometimes carried. One may also be referred to as a services tunnel, services trench, services vault, or cable vault. Smaller cable containment is often referred to as a cable duct or underground conduit. Direct-buried cable is a major alternative to ducts or tunnels.

Verizon New York, Inc., formerly The New York Telephone Company (NYTel), was organized in 1896, taking over the New York City operations of the American Bell Telephone Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utility vault</span> Area for public utility access

A utility vault is an underground room providing access to subterranean public utility equipment, such as valves for water or natural gas pipes, or switchgear for electrical or telecommunications equipment. A vault is often accessible directly from a street, sidewalk or other outdoor space, thereby distinct from a basement of a building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Tramway</span> Streetcar system in Denver, Colorado, US

The Denver Tramway, operating in Denver, Colorado, was a streetcar system incorporated in 1886. The tramway was unusual for a number of reasons: the term "tramway" is generally not used in the United States, and it is not known why the company was named as such. The track was 3 ft 6 in narrow gauge, an unusual gauge in the United States, but in general use by railways in Japan, southern Africa, New Zealand, and Queensland, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frontier Communications</span> American telecommunications company

Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. is an American telecommunications company. Known as Citizens Utilities Company until 2000, Citizens Communications Company until 2008, and Frontier Communications Corporation until 2020, as a communications provider with a fiber-optic network and cloud-based services, Frontier offers broadband internet, digital television, and computer technical support to residential and business customers in 25 states. In some areas it also offers home phone services.

Centel Corporation was an American telecommunications company, with primary interests in providing basic telephone service, cellular phone service and cable television service.

The Capital Traction Company was the smaller of the two major street railway companies in Washington, D.C., in the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orangeburg pipe</span> Type of pipe made from tar paper

Orangeburg pipe is bituminized fiber pipe used in the United States. It is made from layers of ground wood pulp fibers and asbestos fibres compressed with and bound by a water resistant adhesive then impregnated with liquefied coal tar pitch. It was used from the 1860s through the 1970s, when it was replaced by PVC pipe for water supply and ABS pipe for drain-waste-vent (DWV) applications. The name comes from Orangeburg, New York, the town in which most Orangeburg pipe was manufactured, largely by the Fiber Conduit Company. It changed its name to the Orangeburg Manufacturing Company in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Undergrounding</span> Replacement of above-ground power and telecommunications cables with underground ones

In civil engineering, undergrounding is the replacement of overhead cables providing electrical power or telecommunications, with underground cables. It helps in wildfire prevention and in making the power lines less susceptible to outages during high winds, thunderstorms or heavy snow or ice storms. An added benefit of undergrounding is the aesthetic quality of the landscape without the powerlines. Undergrounding can increase the capital cost of electric power transmission and distribution but may decrease operating costs over the lifetime of the cables.

Charles Francis Avila was an American electrical engineer and a Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee of the Yankee Atomic Electric Company.

The New York City Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), formerly known as the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT), is the department of the government of New York City that oversees the City's "use of existing and emerging technologies in government operations, and its delivery of services to the public". Although the agency's primary purpose is to facilitate the technology needs of other New York City agencies, the department is best known by city residents for running the city's 3-1-1 "citizens' hotline," established in 2003. Its regulations are compiled in title 67 of the New York City Rules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verizon Fios</span> Bundled internet, telephone, and television service operates over fiber-optic network

Verizon Fios is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service provided by Verizon Communications that operates over a fiber optical network within the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electrical conduit</span> Tube used to protect and route electrical wiring in a building or structure

An electrical conduit is a tube used to protect and route electrical wiring in a building or structure. Electrical conduit may be made of metal, plastic, fiber, or fired clay. Most conduit is rigid, but flexible conduit is used for some purposes.

Stealth Communications is an American fiber-based Internet service provider (ISP), installing and maintaining its own fiber optic network throughout New York City. Stealth began rolling out its Gigabit Internet services in late 2013 to businesses throughout Manhattan, using in-house employees to lay its own fiber-optic cabling. In July 2015, City of New York and Stealth announced a $5.3 million public/private partnership to expand fiber broadband into the Brooklyn and Queens Industrial Business Zones. As of May 2019, the company reported to have connected hundreds of commercial properties with fiber, over 80 fiber route miles.

References

  1. "New York City: The Case for a Carrier-Neutral Infrastructure".