The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has awarded a $10 million contract to Wi-Tronix to deploy new onboard technology across the railcar fleet for the PATH commuter rail. The investment will support PATH’s regulatory compliance and improve service reliability for millions of riders by providing real-time visibility of onboard mechanical issues of each railcar.
The Wi-Tronix technology supports PATH’s compliance with Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requirements, including a FAST Act mandate for onboard image and audio recording. By modernizing how this information is captured and accessed, PATH can retrieve data remotely, respond more efficiently to breakdowns and improve car availability during service disruptions, resulting in fewer delays. PATH will install the Wi-Tronix technology on more than half of PATH’s fleet of 422 cars, with installation and implementation expected to be complete by the FRA deadline in October 2027.
The contract award follows a multi-year collaboration that began in 2023 through the Transit Tech Lab program, allowing PATH to evaluate Wi-Tronix’s technology in a live transit environment. The PATH tests expanded to a larger deployment of the Wi-Tronix technology after a 30-month pilot. The contract includes Wi-Tronix’s continued maintenance and upkeep of the technology.
“A safe and reliable PATH system is essential to the region’s economy and to the continued growth of communities like Jersey City, Harrison, Newark and Hoboken,” said Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole. “Modernizing a 118-year-old railroad means investing not only in its physical infrastructure, but in new technology that helps us provide better, more reliable service for every rider.”
“We’ve invested heavily in PATH’s physical infrastructure in the past two years and now we’re building on that work with technology that can help us operate the railroad more efficiently,” said Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia. “Giving our teams better information faster means they can address problems quicker and provide more reliable service for PATH riders.”
“This unique partnership between PATH and Wi-Tronix, powered by Transit Tech Lab, is a potential game-changer that will raise our operational, safety, and maintenance standards to a new level,” said PATH General Manager/Director Clarelle DeGraffe. “By advancing real-time visibility of PATH’s railcar fleet, we’re enhancing a legacy system to transform it into a more responsive system that will move riders more safely and efficiently.”
“Transit Tech Lab was created to help transit agencies accelerate innovation and address real-world challenges,” said Stacey Matlen, senior vice president of innovation at the Partnership for New York City. “We’re proud to have helped facilitate this partnership between PATH and Wi-Tronix and look forward to seeing how this multi-year collaboration will support reliability and create a better experience for riders.”
“This investment reflects a shift toward more connected real-time transit operations,” said Larry Jordan, Wi-Tronix president and CEO. “By making onboard information available when and where it’s needed, PATH can respond more quickly, improve reliability, and continue delivering safe, dependable service to its riders.”
The $10 million contract award to Wi-Tronix builds on the successful completion of the Port Authority’s two-year, $430 million PATH Forward program to rehabilitate PATH’s railcars, tracks, stations and other critical infrastructure. PATH Forward, which was completed in spring 2026, prepared the railroad to increase service to its most significant levels in more than two decades, adding service to all four PATH lines for late-night and weekend riders and increasing capacity on three lines. PATH replaced more than 15,000 feet of track, installed three new rail switch systems, upgraded four stations, and improved reliability of its railcars by nearly 13 percent from an average of 95,900 miles between failures before PATH Forward to 108,130 miles by spring 2025.
